Shiver
by BellaSalvatore1918
Summary: During a violent thunderstorm while leisurely watching The Vampire Diaries Season 5 premiere, Madeline Reichs gets put into the world of Mystic Falls and Whitmore College. Thinking it's nothing but a mere dream, she goes along with the storyline, but it's not long until she realizes she's stuck in that world forever. How will things change with her around? Elena/Damon/OC.
1. I Know What You Did Last Summer

**Hi everyone! Long time, no see, huh? Ugh. School is just super hard and now I'm in Trig so ****_yay_**** *she says sarcastically***

**So, this is something I've only tried once before and it was majorly different, but I just randomly had this ida while watching 5x07 last week. I've been debating on whether or not to make this story, but we'll see how it goes. I kind of like the idea, but you never know with me. **

**Anyways...I hope you like it! Please review at the end.**

**Disclaimer: Only saying this once. I do not own ****_The Vampire Diaries _****(obviously) or any of the characters from the show, but I do own my characters Madeline Reichs and Audrey Morgan, along with the plot line and the writing, of course. **

* * *

**Preface**

_I tapped my pencil against the desk, thinking for a moment, zoning out. Unconsciously, I chewed on my lip and stared at something I was unaware of. What I was thinking of was unknown to me, I just felt like there was something wrong._

_Breaking out of the trance I was in, I turned around to see Audrey Morgan, my best friend, sitting on my bed, her pencil making a noise as she scribbled down words on a paper while looking at her History textbook. I was doing my trig homework, but I was just plain bored. With a large sigh, I spoke._

_"Can we take a break?" I asked Audrey. She took a second, but eventually looked up at me._

_"Huh?"_

_"I'm calling a break."_

_"You called a break two minutes ago."_

_I scoffed. "Well, I'm calling another one. Scoot," I commanded as I gestured to her to move on my bed. With a frustrated groan, she adhered to me by moving over and I plopped down on my bed, grabbing my remote on my nightstand. I pressed the ON button on my remote and began to flicker through the channels, looking for something good to watch. It was just three minutes away before turning eight o'clock on a Thursday night – I was sure something was going to be on at this hour._

_"I wish we could live in a television show," Audrey said randomly, catching my attention. I raised my eyebrows and laughed._

_"Why?"_

_"Why not?" she retorted._

_"That's not even an answer," I challenged and turned back to the television. Audrey childishly stuck her tongue out at me as a joke, and I couldn't help but laugh and continue flicking through the channels. "Ooh, look at this," I said after a moment. "The Vampire Diaries season premiere," I commented._

_Audrey looked up and raised her eyebrows. "What's that?"_

_"Don't you remember?" I questioned. "That show about the two vampire brothers – the evil one and the vegetarian one – who fall in love with that girl who looked like the girl they used to love and blah, blah, blah?" I let out a sigh._

_Audrey snapped her fingers in remembrance. "Oh, yeah!" she exclaimed. "We watched like half of the first season when we went up to the mountains with Riley last spring."_

_"She's obsessed," I noted._

_Audrey shrugged. "I would be, too, the good brother is pretty gorgeous for a vampire."_

_With a laugh, I looked at the television screen. "Want to watch it?" I asked._

_Audrey shrugged. "Sure," she said, closing her notebook and putting it inside of her textbook for later. She pushed it to the edge of the bed and situated herself so she got comfortable._

_"But seriously," I began. "Why do you want to live in a TV show?"_

_Audrey shrugged. "It's always been a dream of mine," she admitted. I looked at her, slightly judging. "What? You never thought about going into a TV show and changing the storyline?"_

_"You do realize that it's…actual people filming the show, right?"_

_She gave me a look that could put Medusa to shame. "You have no imagination at all," she accused me, and I just shook my head and laughed._

_"There's a difference between an imagination and just plain stupidity," I countered. Audrey scowled. "Even if it were possible to 'go into a TV show' – which it's not because they don't really exist – why would you want to change the storyline? That's what the writers are for."_

_Audrey let out a frustrated groan. "Yeah, well, sometimes, the writers are stupid." She paused. "You're telling me that you've never once thought about being the one in the TV show to just resolve everyone's issues?"_

_I grimaced. "You're kidding me," I said incredulously. "Audrey, do you think about doing that?"_

_"Of course!" She didn't even attempt to deny it. "Because I'm human!"_

_I shrugged. "I just don't believe in things that will obviously never come true," I said matter-of-factly. It was the truth, and I didn't know how to put it any other way._

_The conversation was finally done, and the screen went black, signaling the start of the show._

_"Previously on the—" Out of nowhere, there was a crackle sound, and the television began to spasm. Outside, there was a flash of light and a roll of thunder, and loud thumps tattered on my bedroom window. The lights began to flicker for a few moments before they went out completely, meanwhile the television was still repeating the words "Previously on the" over and over again._

_"What the hell is going on?" Audrey demanded at me, confused. I shrugged._

_"I-I have no idea," I stammered as the television continued. I tried turning it off, but it just kept going. I thought it was extremely odd – if the power was supposed to go out, the TV would be right behind._

_"Turn it off!" Audrey screamed, scaring me in the slightest with her loudness. But the television grew louder and louder and louder, and I felt my ears begin to ring. There was a pounding sound, and suddenly, my head felt like it was being popped, one vessel at a time. I dropped the remote, and it landed with a thud on the floor. I clawed at my head, trying to stop the pounding and pain from continuing. From my limited vision, I could see Audrey doing the same thing._

_What the hell was happening?_

_The television got louder and louder and louder and louder, until there was a bright light, and the noise ceased._

* * *

**I Know What You Did Last Summer**

I awoke with a start, shooting straight up in a bed, gasping and completely unaware of my surroundings. I looked to the side, where a bright, white light blinded me, and I put my hand up in protest to block the sun from my eyes.

"What the hell?" I mumbled.

"What a nice way to wake up, Mads," a girl laughed as she stepped away from the window that blinded me. My eyes slowly adjusted to my surroundings, only to see things that I was completely unfamiliar with. "Come on, get out of bed, it's bad enough I have to wake you up and you're my older sister."

I let out a small laugh. Who _was _this girl? "Excuse me?" I challenged.

The girl just smiled, like she thought I was kidding. In the light of the sun shining through the window of the unfamiliar room and unfamiliar house, I saw a red streak gleam from her hair, contrasting with her light brown locks. Normally, it would look good on someone with brown hair, but hers was…fake. Or, at least, it looked fake. I shivered, but then caught sight of a color in my own hair. Panicking, I gripped my hair to find a dark blue streak intertwining my hair.

"You've got to be kidding me," I whispered and threw off the covers of the bed, which was surprisingly large. I hadn't noticed, but my room was large as well. What was happening?

But I couldn't focus on that right now. There was a blue streak. _In my hair. _I looked around until I found a bathroom – which was conveniently inside of my room. I had a master bedroom?

"I have blue hair," I said lowly, looking into the mirror to see a strand of dark blue hair gleam in the florescent lighting. The girl in my room crossed her arms, obviously confused. But at the moment, I didn't care. "I have blue hair!" I said louder.

"Uh, _yeah_," the girl said as she walked up to the threshold of the bathroom and looked at me as if I were insane. I didn't blame her. "You're…acting really strange, what's going on?"

I looked at the girl in the mirror. I was still myself – the same grey-colored eyes, the same long, brown hair, the same figure, the same face – I was the same. Everything except that one slight highlight was mine. There was even a scar on the top of my left shoulder from when I burnt myself when I was ten, fooling around with a curling iron.

After a moment of thinking it over – not responding to the girl's question – I suddenly realized, and I let out a sigh of relief. _A dream, _I thought with respite. _Of course. This is nothing but a dream. _Feeling the own stupidity of my panic, I just let out a laugh and turned to the girl at my doorway. Still laughing, I shook my head. "What?" I asked, letting my laughter cease.

She raised her eyebrows. "Mads…?" she trailed off. "Are you still upset over…what happened? I thought you said you were okay with it when you came back last night."

I opened my mouth to ask who she was and what she was saying, but then I realized: if this was a dream, what was the harm in playing along?

"Oh, yeah," I said, brushing my new hair out of my face smoothly. "I am," I nodded. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?" I laughed nervously. But how did I even fall asleep? Was I missing something? All I felt was the pain after the lights went out, and then…I woke up. Or did I fall asleep? This was confusing.

"Good," the girl breathed. I looked at her, and tried to put the pieces together. She looked so familiar…at least, her face did – not the hair. _Ugh_, I groaned internally. _This is going to bother me_.

"Knock, knock," someone sung and entered my fake bedroom, sauntering in like he was the king of the world. I crossed my arms, and watched as the girl in front of me turned around and spread a smile across her face, and the man smiled in return. It was like he was…slaphappy or something. Obviously he was in a good mood. He turned to me, and I felt that weird feeling that I knew him. Again, he was familiar, but I couldn't put a name to the face. "Good morning, Madeline," he said, but he was tense. The man looked at me with his bright blue eyes, and I got the feeling he was looking at me as if I'd break if he did something wrong. "Elena, Caroline called. She'll be here in a bit," the man said to the girl – Elena, apparently – and she gave him a knowing grin. I had the feeling I was missing something.

"Good," Elena said and leaned forward, and I realized. They were together. She kissed him quickly, and he returned it, but he was tense –again, as if he were careful around me for some odd reason. When she pulled away, she sighed. "Damon, you don't have to be weird about it," she promised and turned to me. Somehow…_I _was in this equation? "She's fine with it. We talked it over last night while you were out." I was definitely missing something. The dark haired, blue eyed, handsome man looked at me with cautious eyes, but nodded.

"I mean, yeah…" he trailed off. "Sure. I know it's cool, I just. It's…" Damon paused. "Weird," he concluded, looking up at the ceiling, avoiding my eyes.

"Yeah," Elena admitted and looked at me. "Mads…you might want to get dressed," she suggested, gesturing towards my body. I looked down to see me in night shorts and a tank top, and I didn't understand.

"Uh…sure," I trailed off, not knowing what to say. "I'm going to…" I jerked my thumb to the shower. "Take a shower, so, unless you want to see me naked, I would leave," I laughed, but it wasn't funny to the brunette. She stared at me for a moment until she left, leaving Damon alone with me for a moment.

When she was gone, Damon sighed. "Listen, Mads, I know you're still upset, but I think Elena's not as cool with it as she seems," he commented.

I snorted. "Why?" I asked. "Because I made a joke? Am I supposed to not be funny?" Again, I laughed, but he didn't find any humor in it. Instantaneously, I ceased with his stern eyes.

"We're together now, Mads," he said after a while. "You and I…are not."

For a moment, I was dumbfounded, but then I just nodded. Clearly, we were together and things didn't end well – oh, and him and the brunette with the weird fake streak in her hair _were _together. And, apparently, I was her older sister.

I decided not to make a big deal about it. "Yeah, okay," I agreed, shrugging. "I understand."

Damon raised his eyebrows at me. "You…do?"

"Yes," I said, slightly hissing. What was his _problem_? "I understand. You and me, not together. You and my sister…together." I shrugged. "Clearly understood, if you ask me. I'm not upset, I'm over it." Giving him a smile, I began to close the door. "If you don't mind, I'll take a shower now." I didn't wait for his answer, but only smiled as I closed the door and locked it, no doubt leaving him stunned on the other side.

This was a _weird _dream.

I ran my hand through my brown and blue hair before stripping down and climbing into the shower, which felt oddly real for a dream.

* * *

What the hell was I wearing?

I looked in the full-length mirror by the wardrobe that was in the corner of the vast room, to see my similar body dressed in clothes _I _would never wear. Somehow, it just didn't feel right on me. I was wearing a mint green top that oddly went with my highlights, denim shorts, and Converse. But all of my other clothes were apparently buried in the large suitcase that was shoved into the wardrobe, and I didn't feel like digging through it for a decent pair of jeans. Plus, it was a dream, so what did it matter? I would be awake soon.

_Huh_, I thought with a sigh. _I wonder if Audrey will be in my dream. _But with a shrug, I turned and walked to my nightstand to grab my phone, which was charging. Though my phone was still an Apple product, it had a different case, and was a different color. I sighed once before I slipped it into my pocket, but then something caught my eye.

A necklace was on the nightstand, gleaming in the morning sun that still shined bright through my window. I tilted my head at it once – I'd never seen it before. Out of sheer curiosity, I picked up the necklace and held it in my hand – it was beautiful. Silver. Round. Subtle. It was a locket with intricate patterns coating the material. I tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. With a shrug, I turned it around and clasped it onto my collarbone, thinking what little harm it could do. Obviously, it was mine if it was on my nightstand.

When I opened my door, Damon was back at it, his hand raised as if he were about to knock. With an awkward smile, he lowered it and just peered into my room.

"I'm here to get your suitcase," he explained. I raised my eyebrows.

"Uh…why?" I questioned, confused.

He looked at me, confused as well. "Have you changed your mind or something?" Damon asked. I said nothing and waited for him to clarify. "Mads, you and Elena are going to college today, remember?"

"College?" I repeated, dumbfounded. I was in high school – senior year. Why was I dreaming about being in college?

Damon frowned at me. "You have changed your mind, haven't you?" He sighed. "Jeremy will be fine, just…come on, give me your suitcase, I'll bring it downstairs for you." Jeremy? Who was Jeremy?

I thought about it again. College? But when I thought about it again, it didn't surprise me much. I inhaled. "I don't have it ready," I told him, earning another frown from Damon. "But…just give me a second," I said, leaving the door open as I walked away and opened my closet doors, where my suitcase was still packed fully, but was unzipped and resting down on the oak wardrobe. I turned around and walked into the bathroom to grab the toiletries I pulled out when I heard Damon talk to me.

"So, where did you go?" Damon asked as I gathered my things in my bathroom. I raised my eyebrows to myself.

"I'm not sure what you mean," I responded. Damon approached the threshold of my personal restroom.

"This summer," he clarified. "Elena said something about Europe, but she didn't clarify," Damon responded. "So where did you go?"

I brushed past him and walked to my wardrobe, remembering what he said this morning to get me out of the conversation at hand. "Why do you want to know?" I asked, snapping in the slightest.

Damon sighed. "Just because I'm with Elena doesn't mean I don't want to be friends or something."

I turned around to look at him as I set my toiletry bag down in my suitcase. "Somehow, Damon," I said, saying his name slowly, "you don't strike me as the 'friend zone' type," I noted. Did I have soda before I fell asleep? This dream was completely weird. Nonetheless, I zipped up my suitcase and pulled it up, struggling with my obvious human strength. In less than a millisecond – though Damon was across the room – he grabbed the suitcase from my hands and took it with no troubles. I blinked a few times before I stepped back, stumbling in the slightest.

"What the..." I trailed off. "What was that?" What the _hell _kind of dream was this? Did I have superpowers too?

"I was helping you," Damon said simply, looking at me as if I was crazy. But in this instance I was crazy for creating this world with my subconscious.

"You were all the way across the room and now…" I stopped, unable to finish. I wasn't sure _what _I just saw.

Damon snorted. "I have little patience for human speed," he said simply and walked to the door – contradicting his own statement. _Human _speed? Was there another speed that I was missing? "Come on," he said, opening the door for me as he carried my suitcase out of the room with no effort at all. "Let's go, Elena's downstairs waiting. I'll be right there," he promised before going off in a different direction.

I stood in my room for an extra second before I went out and found the stairwell in the large mansion, gawking at the intricateness of the house I was living in. I hadn't been here before. Wasn't it a scientific fact that you couldn't dream about things you'd never seen before?

"There were issues at home," a male voice said as I made my step down the last stair and into the foyer. "Ever since I lost my parents and my aunt, I've been…acting out. Drugs, drinking…" Well this kid had a lot of issues. "I was looking for attention, so I lit my house on fire and faked my own death." I let my jaw drop to the floor. Somehow, Elena was just sitting there, across from this kid, looking like everything was okay?

"_Really _stress the drug thing," Elena instructed. What? "And I would definitely say that the fire was an accident because there's _crazy _and then there's…" She took in a large breath. "Well, _me_." Was I missing something? It sounded like _she _was the one who lit the house on fire.

Were we in a game show or something?

"Or I could just _not _go back, considering my school already had a memorial for me," the male suggested. I raised my eyebrows.

"But in order to have a memorial for you, you'd have to be dead…and…clearly, you're not dead," I began, looking at everyone in the room. The kid looked at me for a moment before smiling and getting up from his seat.

"Madeline," he breathed and pulled me into a big hug. Did I even know this kid? I gave him an awkward hug back, again trying to play along with my subconscious' demands. "Ugh, I'm just getting you back and you're leaving again."

"Yeah, well, that's what cell phones are for," I said, thinking of nothing better to say as the boy pulled away from me and Elena walked up to us with a smile on her face – like she was enormously happy by our conversation for some reason. To be brutally honest, I was uncomfortable.

"Caroline just pulled up," Damon announced as he came down the stairs, two suitcases in his hands. Outside, there was a car honk.

"I-I can't leave," Elena sighed. "I should at least stay and wait until Jeremy settles into school."

"I second that," I said, raising my hand slightly. Why would I want to go to _college_ in a dream? I wasn't here to dream about school.

"Really?" Damon challenged, looking at the both of us. "You're leaving," he commanded. "You're going to college. You're going to drink cheap beer and you're going to protest things you don't care about. Both of you." He paused and clamped a hand on Jeremy's shoulder. "And _I _am going to take care of your little brother." Elena smiled and I just stood there, done with my confusion that was most likely going to get worse. I was sure I wasn't smart enough to dream up this complex equation. "Trust me," Damon continued, patting Jeremy twice. "You two have nothing to worry about."

"Ugh," Elena groaned, giving in. I felt like there was something wrong – she just bent to his command. The word _whipped _crossed my mind, and I just let a slight laugh escaped my lips. "Okay. Well, at least Whitmore's only a few hours away, so if there's anything you need just call me." _Whitmore,_ I thought with a slight approval, though I was sure it wasn't a real college. Why was my mind so creative?

Jeremy stopped her. "I'll see you on laundry day," he joked, pulling her into a hug. Elena smiled happily before they pulled away and she whispered a goodbye to them before making her way over to Damon. Jeremy turned to me and gave me a grin before pulling me into a hug – a large one. Not surprisingly, he lifted me up from the ground and gave me the biggest hug I'd possibly received. My lungs felt like they had been denied air. "Finally, big Sis is going off to college!" Jeremy raved while he put me down. I was on the smaller side – it was understandable how I could be two feet off the ground.

"Finally," I agreed. "I'll see you later, Jer."

"Bye, Mads," he agreed. I turned to see Damon and Elena facing each other, her arm around his neck, them both pulling away from a kiss. It shouldn't have hurt me – Madeline Reichs – emotionally, but somehow, this dream Madeline felt a pit in her stomach that was made out of anger and jealousy.

Their choice of words didn't help the feeling. "I love you," Elena told him.

"And I love you," Damon agreed. Jeremy looked at me for a moment and I just avoided his eyes until their love fest broke and Damon turned to the door to grab the suitcases. He handed Elena her bag and opened the door for her, and I followed behind. Damon opened the door wider so both of us could go outside, but I was angry – angrier than I probably should've been, which proved it was a dream. I grabbed the suitcase out of his hand and – even though it was heavy – I grabbed the doorknob with my other hand and went outside, leaving Damon stunned.

"Madeline," he began, but I shut the door and walked quickly out to where Elena was putting her bag into the car with a blonde girl's help.

"Madeline!" the blonde raved as she saw me approach her, and she pulled me into a large hug. "You can't ever leave us again, not like that," she pleaded.

"Like what?" I asked as I swung my suitcase into the trunk of the car with the help of the blonde.

"All…angry and stuff," the girl said, and I found it adorable – in a friend way. "I know Damon hurt you, but you had friend obligations," the blonde pouted.

"Ugh," I groaned. "Everything comes back to _Damon_." The blonde and I both shut the trunk. "Maybe it's something _you _can explain to me because I—" I was cut off when I turned around, just as I was stopped from walking forward. Someone blocked my way – and it only took me a moment to realize that it was Audrey. "Audrey!" I exclaimed, pulling her into a hug. "Yes! You're in my dream," I sung happily. At least there was _one _familiar face around here that I knew the name to.

"Your dream?" Audrey proposed as she peeled me off of her. "You're in _my _dream, Mads."

I frowned at her. "This is my dream," I countered. "You know, this ridiculously weird one where apparently my younger sister is dating my ex-boyfriend or something?"

"It's not as weird as being the younger sister in a family of all blondes," Audrey pointed out. I scowled. "I don't even know how it's possible but they think I'm apart of the family."

I shrugged. "Maybe we're having the same dream with each other." Audrey looked at me, silently judging, and I shrugged. "What? It could happen." I brushed past her and climbed into the car.

* * *

"You're dreaming about Stefan?" the blonde – who I gathered to be named Caroline – said to Elena as the three of us walked down the pathway of the college campus together, holding baskets of laundry. Why was my subconscious dreaming of doing laundry? It was just mind-boggling to me.

"They're not dreams," Elena reasoned. "It's more of a feeling." She paused. "Maybe I should call him."

"So he can hear how happy you are with Damon?" Caroline challenged. "Absolutely not. Madeline, back me up here," Caroline instructed. I cleared my throat.

"Uh, yeah," I agreed, not knowing what I was even talking about myself. "Don't call him, Elena." Who were we talking about?

"See, listen to her," Caroline demanded. "You've already hurt one person developing your relationship with Damon, no need to hurt another one."

"Way to make this not awkward, Caroline," Elena muttered under her breath. Things were silent for a moment before I realized that they were talking about me.

"Oh!" I said, relapsing from a moment of stupidity. "No, Elena, Caroline, it really isn't awkward. Damon and I are over, I get that. We called it, it's done." I shrugged. "Moving on."

Elena gave me a smile, but Caroline didn't seem to buy it. I raised my eyebrows, but they continued with the conversation.

"So what are you two saying?" Elena continued. "I feel like something's wrong with him and I should just let it go and not call him?"

"He'll call you when he's ready," Caroline commented.

"So I should just _live _with this nagging pit in my stomach?"

Caroline sighed. "Okay, Elena, that _pit _is called guilt. You feel terrible because you broke Stefan's heart; and that nagging feeling is your brain waking up to tell you that you've made a horrible – yet completely reversible – mistake." Caroline shrugged.

"Nice try," Elena taunted as she stopped all of us in the middle of the pathway. "Besides, Stefan and I left things in a good place." Everything was piecing together. Obviously this _Stefan _guy was Elena's first boyfriend, and obviously things were _not _left in a good place according to Caroline, and it was obvious as well that Elena was in denial.

I frowned. This sounds like the plot from that stupid television show Riley Hawkins made us watch last spring.

"It doesn't mean that he hasn't been thinking about you _shacking _up with his brother all summer long," Caroline said slowly.

"_Hello_," Caroline's mother – Liz Forbes – said as she walked by with Audrey by her side. "Mom and daughter ears. We're still here." Elena made a face and Caroline laughed, and I just shook my head. All of us turned, and Elena sighed deeply.

"We're in college," she stated to us both. Caroline grinned widely.

"We _actually _made it. All three of us."

"Aren't I supposed to be a sophomore here?" I questioned, confused. Caroline and Elena looked over at me, and I realized that I wasn't playing my part. "Uh…" I scrambled to find an excuse. "Sorry, I'm just…out of it today."

"Understandable," Caroline muttered to me, and somehow, Elena heard and frowned.

"Mads, I thought you said—"

I cut her off. "I know what I said, Elena," I responded. "And I'll keep saying it, so just because I'm not feeling into it today doesn't mean it's because of you and Damon." I shook my head. "It's just…there's something weird going on." The more and more I conversed with these people; the more and more I realized that this was sounding like that show we watched. I didn't pay much attention to it, but I got the main gist of it. Girl in love with boy, boy in love with girl, evil vampire brother gets between them, all hell rises.

I walked off for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts. I saw Caroline and Elena contemplate going after me, but I just kept moving until I found a bench. I put the hamper down on the bench and pulled out my phone, tapping it for a moment before getting an idea.

_The Vampire Diaries, _I repeated in my head. I unlocked my phone and pulled up the Safari app, quickly typing in the words I repeated in my head over and over again, like they were going to get lost. If I were dreaming, it would come up on the screen, obviously, and all was said and done.

If it didn't, I was definitely going insane.

"Damn four-G," I cursed to myself, waiting for the page to download. I waited for a few more seconds before I saw the page fully load, and Google come up with the results.

There were none.

"What does that even mean?" I whispered slowly.

"Hey!" Elena shouted as she ran up to me. She set her hamper down on top of mine and looked at me for a moment. "Mads, are you okay?"

"Yes, Elena," I said carefully. "I'm fine." I cleared my throat and put my phone into my pocket, deciding that I was overreacting. This was a dream and my subconscious didn't want me finding a page on _The Vampire Diaries_, so what? I would wake up soon and everything would be okay. I plastered a smile on my face. "Let's go."

* * *

"You brought a Panini Press?" Elena asked as she turned around to Caroline, who was completely serious about the matter.

"Small appliances by the fridge," she instructed. Elena blinked twice before moving over to follow Caroline's orders. I moved over to my bed where Audrey was helping me unpack. I thought about mentioning the fact that the television show wasn't on the Internet, but I was still partially convinced it was a dream – my dream.

"That's the last one," Liz announced as she brought a box into the room. "All right. Give me a goodbye hug before I change my mind and bring you home with me," Liz said to Caroline as she made her way across the lavish dorm room. Caroline pulled her mother in for a hug. "You can call as much as you want, you know?" Liz said, trying not to cry.

Caroline laughed. "Mom!" she taunted incredulously. "We'll be fine." They broke apart and Liz turned to Elena, and they hugged as well. Liz looked at me while hugging my younger sister. "This is where your dad fell in love with medicine, you know," she stated to us as she pulled away from her. After Elena, I was next. Her hug felt so real – everything felt so real. But, then again, sometimes I feel real in dreams, too, and then I wake up and I'm alone in my bedroom and _not _in a lavish dorm room. "He would be really proud to see you both here," she informed us. From the corner of my eye, I saw Audrey give Caroline a hug.

Elena smiled. "Thank you," she said to the Sheriff. I smiled as well, but said nothing. Elena walked over to Audrey and gave her a hug, but Audrey was a little tense. I didn't blame her – that was how I was with everyone who wanted a hug from me today. Liz stared at Caroline and me for a moment before Caroline laughed.

"Go!" she demanded. Liz laughed. "Before I change my mind and make you stay."

"I'm going, I'm going," Caroline's mom assured us, beckoning Audrey. "I love you," she said as she approached the door. "Bye, girls."

"Bye," Elena and Caroline said in unison. I waved.

"Bye," Audrey echoed and followed her mom out the door. I thought about going with her, but the dream should be over soon – why not play it out until it ended? It was the only time I was probably conscious during a dream.

"So, roomies," Caroline sung to us as her family left.

Elena laughed. "I think we should drink to something."

"Definitely," I agreed. One of the best ideas anyone has had all day.

"I couldn't agree more," Caroline said as she walked over to her bed and opened a suitcase. Why would alcohol be in a suitcase?

But what was inside the suitcase was…_not _alcohol.

"What the hell?" I asked as I saw Caroline pull out two blood bags. "What…what is that?" I demanded.

"Blood," Elena said simply.

I blinked. "Blood?" I questioned. "Why the hell do you need blood?" First Damon going from across the room to stand right next to me in half a second and now toasting on _blood_?

Caroline looked at me, obviously super confused. "Madeline, we're vampires, we need blood, duh," she said, as if it were blatantly obvious. I felt my heart drop. _Vampires_? As in _The Vampire Diaries? _What the hell was even happening? Was I a vampire? "Here," she said, handing the blood to Elena and walking over to the mini fridge. Caroline opened it and grabbed a can of soda she put into it earlier. "There you go, human," she teased, handing me the can. So I was a human? And they were vampires?

I looked at the can of soda. I definitely drank one of them before I went to bed.

"To the next chapter of our lives," Caroline toasted, and they banged blood bags. I found the sight sickening. They turned to me, and I gave them a light tap of my unopened can. _When I wake up from this dream, I'm never drinking soda again, _I vowed, but I knew it wouldn't hold up. I'd probably last a week.

Right before they were about to open the blood bags and probably make me puke all over the nice dorm room floor, there was a knock on the door, leading them to quickly – and supernaturally – throw the blood bags back into the suitcase and watch as a girl invited herself into the room, holding all of her stuff.

Her face – unlike Caroline and Elena's and Damon's and Jeremy's – was _not _familiar at all.

"Hey!" the girl said excitedly. Caroline didn't look so happy.

"Uh, who are you?" Caroline demanded.

"I'm Megan," the girl announced. "Your roommate," she added with a smile.

* * *

"So, your current boyfriend Damien—" Megan began, but was cut off by Elena. Caroline, Elena, Megan, and I all walked outside to take a break from moving in.

"Damon," Elena corrected.

"—Is your ex's brother?"

"Stefan," Elena agreed.

"And you and Stefan are friends but three months ago he left without saying goodbye?" Megan filled in.

"You think I should call him?" Elena asked for the billionth time today. I didn't say anything, because I was getting annoyed with the whole thing. Now I knew why everyone was so concerned about this my "feelings". From what I gathered, Damon and Elena hurt a lot of people getting together – including me.

"No way," Megan scoffed while Caroline shouted, "Absolutely not!" Elena just shook her head and hung it shamefully. Megan looked at Caroline.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" she asked.

Caroline smiled proudly. "I do," she admitted. "His name's Tyler. He had to miss moving day, but he'll be here for the first day of classes."

"Assuming he registers," Elena began, "and picks a dorm. And buys books." Was my entire family this rude?

Megan turned to me next. "What about you, Madeline?"

Elena and Caroline looked at me, as if awaiting the answer. Did they not know if I had another boyfriend since Damon? For a half of a second, I thought about making up a fake boyfriend, but then again, I was never the best at lying.

"Uh, no," I said eventually. "Not anymore, I guess." Elena looked at me sympathetically, and I hated it for some reason. This dream-self hated her. I felt like everyone was waiting for the moment that I fell apart in pieces.

When did I become so man-dependent?

"Speaking of minding one's own business," Caroline saved me. "Let's talk roommate ground rules," she spoke with crossed arms. But her speech was not dedicated to neither Elena nor me –it was to Megan. "Privacy is very important to me."

"Same here," Megan agreed.

"I have low blood sugar," Caroline continued. "My diet's finicky, so, keep your paws off my stuff."

"We'll split up the shelves," Megan suggested.

"And if I suddenly get up to leave or disappear for a while, _don't _follow me," she warned.

"Okay," Megan agreed. Caroline smiled in response. "Sounds good."

"Great." Elena laughed. "Then we agree on everything."

"Excuse me ladies," a male came up to us, interrupting the conversation at hand. Before the male walked up, I could see Elena give Caroline a weird look. "Party at Whitmore house tonight," he announced, giving Caroline a flyer. Although the blonde vampire didn't notice, Elena and I both noticed the boy looking at Caroline in a…_more than interested _way.

Elena looked at the boy and then at Caroline. "We'll be there," she decided. Caroline looked up at Elena, confused, as the boy crossed our paths to leave.

"I hope so," he said, his attention firmly on Caroline. She watched as he walked by, and Elena put her arm around Caroline.

With a sigh, she began. "I love college," Elena laughed. Caroline just rolled her eyes and I looked at Megan once before we all continued to walk away.

* * *

Caroline frustratingly raided the drawers in Megan's dresser. With a sigh, she looked back at Elena and me. Elena was facing the mirror and I was on the bed, just waiting for the dream to end. "Did you notice how Megan's juicer takes up all the small appliance space?" she asked, annoyed. Caroline turned around and opened a drawer in the dresser. "She has an entire drawer dedicated to organic linen," she judged.

"What happened to privacy?" Elena challenged. God, college was boring.

Caroline shut the drawer and turned around. "Maybe if she didn't take such long _showers, _I wouldn't have time to go through her stuff." She turned around and continued raking through the human roommate's things. "I mean, how can you two be okay with a fourth roommate?"

"Because we're trying to be functional," Elena reasoned. "And being functional means we need _friends_."

"Human friends," I clarified.

Caroline spun around. "But we also need personal space," she argued. "I mean, what if we suddenly get a craving and I want to eat her?" Caroline challenged. Elena just rolled her eyes and laughed.

"So are you saying you want to eat _me _all the time?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

Caroline rolled hers in response. "Of course not, Madeline, you're my best friend," she scoffed. "I'm saying that I don't know her and if I want to eat her, nothing is stopping me." She paused. "And what about our blood bags? What if they go bad because we can't store them in the mini-fridge?" Caroline opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of Megan's water. She held it up in the air as if it were a trophy – a disgusting one. "I mean, what the hell is protein water?" Elena and I both shrugged as Caroline twisted the cap off with a smile. "Well, maybe if I drink it all, she'll want to move out."

Caroline put the bottle to her lips and began to drink, and Elena got up from the edge of her bed and started to protest, but in the next second, Caroline was on the floor, spitting out the water as if it were poison. Concerned, I jumped out of my bed and ran to help her.

"Caroline, what the hell?" I challenged. She coughed a few times before looking up at Elena and me.

"Vervain," she said simply.

"Vervain?" I repeated. What the hell was vervain? I didn't have a single clue, but obviously, it was harmful to vampires if it made Caroline react this way. Or maybe she had an allergic reaction or something.

Suddenly, Megan burst through the door. "What's going on?" she demanded, a towel wrapped around her body. Steam floated into the room from her shower. Megan grabbed another towel from a shelf outside the bathroom. "Are you okay?" she asked, walking over to Caroline.

Elena and I helped Caroline up from the floor. "Yeah," Elena covered. "She's fine." I could tell that Caroline and Elena were freaking out. Obviously, it wasn't an allergic reaction. Something was wrong.

"What happened?" Megan asked.

"Uh, the water just…went down the wrong pipe," Caroline replied. "I'm okay, really." Caroline handed over the water. "I shouldn't have touched your stuff, I'm…_really _sorry."

"It's fine," Megan assured us. "It just sounded like someone was dying out here," she joked. Elena, Caroline, and I laughed, but it was partially the truth. Obviously, this _vervain _thing was harmful to Caroline in her own special way, and it wasn't an allergic reaction. Megan let out a rough exhale. "Well, I'm glad you're okay." Without another word, she turned around and went back into the bathroom to finish her shower.

When Megan was gone, Elena and Caroline looked at each other worriedly. "She knows who we are," Caroline whispered, obviously afraid. So I _was _right. This "vervain" was harmful to vampires. "She drinks vervain water!" she whispered angrily.

"That doesn't mean she knows about us," Elena reasoned.

"Seriously?" Caroline exclaimed, frantic. "We share a _bathroom _with this girl." Elena looked behind her to see the bathroom. "What if she's a hunter and she stakes us in the shower?" A hunter? Wait, am I dreaming about _Supernatural_? If I am, I call Dean Winchester. "Or she steals our daylight rings while we're asleep and then we burst into flames when the sun comes up—" So the daylight rings protect them in the sun and if they don't have it on, they burn. When I wake up, I should try writing a book about this.

"Don't you think that if she was a hunter, we'd be dead by now?" Elena challenged.

Caroline ignored the comment. "I think we should lock her up. You know, let the vervain get out of her system? And then we compel her to forget about us."

"Caroline, I'm not kidnapping our roommate!" Elena demanded. I shrugged.

"Well, it's not the most logical but—" I began, but my younger sibling cut me off. I still wasn't exactly sure how we were in the same class together, but I assumed that I either deffered a year or she was created a couple weeks after I was born, and one of us nearly made the cut-off for school. With my luck, it was probably me.

"No, Madeline, the best way to convince her that Caroline and I are normal is to _act _normal," she suggested – though it wasn't much of a suggestion rather than a demand. "Do…normal, human…_freshman-_y stuff."

"Such as?" Caroline asked, still frantic.

Elena let a smile creep onto her face, and I knew exactly what she was thinking – and suddenly, college wasn't so boring anymore.

* * *

The music blasted through the neighborhood of the Whitmore College, but I highly doubted that it wasn't normal for the place. I'd never been to a frat party – I almost went in junior year, but I ended up getting sick with the flu the weekend my friends and I were supposed to go. I was pretty sure that Audrey went.

How did I get stuck in college when she was in high school? Yeah, this was definitely my dream.

_Oh, well, _I thought to myself as we approached the booming house. "Elena, do you think there'll be alcohol?" I asked, excited. "I'm getting drunk. Someone's going to have to cover me, I don't want to spend the night passed out on the couch here."

Elena laughed. "Sure," she agreed. "Just don't get too drunk, I'm not dragging you out of here."

I waved my hand at her, knowing she would anyway. "You're strong, you can handle it," I started. "Okay, let's go! I'm ready to get drunk," I announced with a smile. Caroline and Elena looked at each other once and we began to walk forward until someone made us turn around with their voice.

"Hey, I remember you." It was the guy who handed us the flyer today while we took a break from unpacking.

"Hey," Elena said. "Flyer guy."

"Jesse," he corrected with a grin, "technically, but Flyer Guy works too."

"I'm Elena," my sister began. "This is my sister, Madeline, and this is, uh, Caroline." Caroline was clearly avoiding Jesse's gaze, and I wondered why. The guy wasn't bad-looking if you asked me.

"Hi," Caroline said quickly and walked away. Elena looked at Jesse once but I touched Elena's arm and went after Caroline. Elena stayed with Jesse and talked for a moment while I went up to the blonde vampire.

"What's wrong, Care?" I asked, confused.

"I'm with Tyler," she hissed under her breath. I frowned.

"Are you?" I asked, trying to be gentle about it. "I mean…I don't know much, but from what it sounds like, it seems like there's been a lot of distance…"

"Well, you would know if you were here over the summer," Caroline said, and I detected bitterness in her voice. I pulled her to the side to stop her.

"I know you're upset about that, Caroline, but I obviously needed some space away from this place," I reasoned. She crossed her arms. "I came back, though," I began. "Doesn't that count for something?"

"But you still left!" Caroline said angrily. "I thought you would be stronger than that!"

"Yeah, I thought so, too." My mind was so intricate with this conversation, it was amazing, but I played along like nothing as wrong. "But he broke up with me so he could start being with Elena, I needed some time to get over it." I shrugged when things were silent. "Besides, for all you know, Tyler could be cheating on you and you're just passing up opportunities like they'll always come around for you."

Caroline scoffed. "Don't bring your issues with Damon last year into my issues with Tyler."

I frowned. "What?" I asked, puzzled. "Damon was cheating on me?"

Caroline stared at me, as if incredulous. "_Duh, _Madeline, that's why you left. Why would you even ask me that?"

I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Caroline, I told you that I was out of it…" I trailed off. "Wait, was—"

"Caroline," someone interrupted us. It was Elena. I squared my jaw. _Speak of the devil, _I thought. "Are you okay?"

Caroline sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine, let's just…go inside, it hasn't really been one of the best days." With a nod, all three of us began to walk into the house, me passing through easily but Caroline and Elena stopping at the threshold. I turned to them.

"Are you guys okay?" I asked them. "The party's _inside, _not outside."

"Someone must own this place," Elena whispered. "We have to be invited in." Okay, that made sense.

"Hey!" Megan shouted as she came up to me inside the house. "I was wondering if you guys were gonna make it!"

Elena, Caroline, and I just gave Megan a smile, trying to stall. Suddenly, the Jesse guy came behind Elena and Caroline.

"Are you guys going in, or…?" he trailed off.

"Uh…go ahead," Elena said carefully, and Jesse walked around them and into the house. Megan looked at me and then to Elena and Caroline.

"Why are you guys just standing there?" she challenged.

Elena opened her mouth, but couldn't think of anything, so she turned to Caroline. "Uh, Caroline?"

Caroline thought about it for a moment before answering. "Waiting for someone," she said lamely. I wanted to just bring my palm to my face in that moment, but I resisted. There were a bunch of mumbles from Caroline and Elena, and Megan just nodded.

"Right," she said eventually. "Well, I'm gonna go hang." Megan looked at me. "You coming, Mads?" she offered.

"Uh…" I looked at Caroline and Elena for a moment. I could just leave them behind and do what I wanted to do, considering the fact that my sister has obviously not cared about me if she was the one who was home wrecking my relationship with the other brother. Wasn't one enough? But with a sigh, I realized that it would be a bad idea. "No," I said at last. "I have to wait, too."

Megan nodded, but she was suspicious. "Okay," she said and backed away into the party. Elena smiled and waved, but when Megan was gone, her smile dropped.

"Like I said, she knows," Caroline proved and turned away to leave. I reluctantly joined them and we continued outside, where Elena pulled out her phone and decided to call Megan.

"Hey, Megan, it's Elena," she said. Caroline paced back and forth. "Just calling to let you know why we left, so, call me when you get a chance. Bye." Elena hung up the phone and Caroline sighed.

"Okay," she started. "It's settled. When she leaves, we grab her."

"Or we could just let her know that you weren't feeling well…" Elena trailed off.

"Elena, she saw us _stuck _at the threshold! We might as well _flash _her our fangs." So these vampires did have fangs. Nice.

The three of us began to walk and Elena continued arguing with Caroline. Frankly, I didn't care what happened, this dream should be over soon. "There's _no _way that out of the thousands of freshman, we were _randomly _paired with someone who knows about vampires," Elena whispered, looking around cautiously.

"Maybe it wasn't random," Caroline said cryptically, and before anyone could respond, Elena's phone began to ring.

"Megan's calling," Elena announced and answered the phone with a smile. "Hey, Megan," she began.

"Elena," a frantic Megan said over the phone. "You _have _to help me…chasing me…" Megan raved, terrified. Elena had the phone on speaker now.

"Megan, who's chasing you?" she asked.

"Help me!" Megan screamed, and Elena and Caroline both looked up at the Whitmore house to the top level. I looked up as well, but I saw nothing.

"We can't come inside," Elena started to say, but cut herself off and began to think of a reason. "The line's too long," she saved herself. Megan screamed over the line, breathing harshly. "Where are you?"

"Ah! Elena, please help me!"

Caroline grabbed the phone from Elena. "Megan, can you hear me? Just get outside and we can help you," Caroline assured, and Megan screamed. Suddenly, there was a thump on the ground, and all three of us turned to see the most revolting sight.

"Oh my God," I whispered as I saw Megan's limp body lying on the ground. Elena covered her mouth with her hand and ran over to the girl. She brushed Megan's hair out of her neck to reveal two puncture wounds in the neck, blood coating the outside of the wound.

"Who did this to her?" Caroline asked aloud. I knew who it was – we all knew who it was – why did someone have to ask about it?

And why did the next, blatantly obvious words, have to come out of my sister's mouth. "This was a vampire."

* * *

All three of us watched as the police covered Megan's dead body with a yellow sheet, declaring her death. Sirens blazed everywhere and policemen crawled on the campus, checking out the scene. We were to be interviewed about the situation any minute now.

"What is happening?" Elena asked aloud. "Our roommate is dead. There was a vampire at the party."

Caroline turned to Elena. "We don't know _what _she knew or who she told."

"Way to be sensitive, Caroline," I snapped. "Our roommate just died."

"Yeah, and we're next if we don't figure out if she knew about us," Caroline snapped right back, and I just crossed my arms. This was by _far _the worst dream I'd ever had. "We should get out of here."

No one said anything until Elena spoke again. "Caroline, I left that message on her voicemail."

"Don't worry, I took her phone," Caroline responded.

Elena blinked. "What?"

"Hey, girls?" someone came up to us, snapping all three of us out of the conversation. "I'm Diane Freedman," the woman said. There was a police lanyard around her neck. "Head of campus security," she clarified. "Are you okay?"

All three of us nodded and Elena spoke. "Um, I think so."

"I understand Megan was your roommate," Diane said apologetically. "I'm so sorry you had to find her like this."

"Do you know what happened?" Caroline asked.

"They found a note," Diane informed us. "Apparently, she was struggling with severe depression."

"A note?" I repeated. "What do you mean?"

Diane looked at me, again, apologetic. "Your roommate took her own life." Elena and I were both taken back, but Caroline wasn't having it.

"You think _this _was a suicide?" she demanded.

"We're convinced it was a suicide," the security woman assured us. "But we can't seem to find her cell phone. Have you seen it?" she asked.

"No," all three of us said simultaneously.

The woman looked at us, but said nothing for a moment. "Okay," she agreed. "If it turns up, let us know."

"What is going on?" Elena asked Caroline when the woman left.

* * *

_"Hey, Megan, it's Elena, just calling to let you know…" _Caroline pulled the phone away from her ear as we all walked down the dorm room halls. She pressed a button and announced, "Delete" as we pulled up to our dorm room, and Elena stopped cold. I realized that the door was left cracked open, and Caroline and Elena noticed the same thing. Cautiously, Elena went first, and I went second, Caroline protecting me from behind. It sucked being the only human one.

"Someone's been in here," Elena announced as she walked into the room, looking around. Caroline walked over to the desk and turned on the light.

"Megan's tablet's gone," she commented.

"Along with her so-called suicide note," Elena noted. She sighed. "Can I…see the phone for a second?" she asked. As Elena searched the phone, Caroline groaned.

"This just doesn't make any sense!" She grunted. "First, the roommate we're _not _supposed to have _might _know about vampires, and then happens to be killed by a vampire, and now the school covering it up…I mean, seriously…who is this girl?"

"Maybe she's a CIA agent?" I suggested. Caroline frowned. "What? Like a secret part of the government who knows about vampires, so they cover up her death so a panic doesn't break out?"

"Seriously, Madeline?" Caroline asked, annoyed. I crossed my arms.

"Hey, it's my dream!" I shouted.

"You dream about CIA agents who know about vampires?"

"No, that's not what I—"

"Whatever's going on, it's not just about our roommate," Elena announced, cutting me off. I sighed.

"Then what is it about?" I asked.

"Us," Elena said simply. I raised my eyebrows at her and she showed me a picture of Megan and some older man. I didn't understand – was there another love interest of Elena's that I was missing? "That's Megan," she began.

"With your dad," Caroline filled in.

* * *

After the crazy events that took place in my dream, I was just hoping that I would sleep and wake up in my own bed. Maybe it was one of those weird dreams where you had to fall back asleep again to wake up in the real world. All I knew was that this world was complicated and I didn't want to be apart of it anymore.

"_I'm really, really sorry, Care," _a man's voice said over the phone, and I could barely hear it as I listened hard in my bed that was next to Caroline's, separated only by a nightstand. Elena was taking a shower before she went to bed, leaving Caroline and I alone for now, still slightly angry at each other. But how could I be angry at her when she was going through something that was probably worse than whatever I went through? "_But this is important."_

I could hear Caroline try to keep it together, but her sobs inevitably leaked out. I felt terrible about planting the thought about Tyler cheating on her in her head, so I had to say…something.

"Are you okay, Caroline?" I whispered, knowing she could hear me. Things were so quiet in the room besides the pitter-patter of the water coming from Elena's shower that I could hear her answer.

"Yeah," Caroline lied. "Yeah, I'm fine," she sniffled.

I turned to look at her. "Caroline," I whispered. "I'm sorry."

Caroline turned over at me to meet my gaze. "About what?" she asked.

"Leaving," I said simply. "Saying those things about Tyler…" I trailed off. "I don't think he'd do what Damon did to me. He cares about you." I was simply going off of a guess, but she didn't correct me on anything.

Caroline turned so that she could face me fully. "Madeline, I'm really glad that you're back here with me," she commented, and I let a half-smile come onto my face. I dreamt of a really good friend to have.

"I'm glad that you're here, too," I returned.

Caroline sniffled again. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked me, again looking at me sympathetically, like everyone had been doing for the entire day. "You know Elena didn't mean to hurt you."

So, I was right. It was Elena who wrecked my relationship with Damon. There was a painful stab in my chest, like I was being hurt all over again, even though I had no memories of what had happened in this dream before I woke up in the dream to start the day. "Right," I said eventually. "I'm fine," I assured her.

There was a silence until Caroline sighed. "I'm sorry for snapping at you," she said quietly.

I nodded. "Me, too," I apologized. There was a silence. "Goodnight, Caroline."

"Goodnight, Mads." She turned over. "See you in the morning," she breathed loudly, and I just stayed quiet for a moment. I wouldn't see her in the morning – not if I was dreaming.

So I turned over and whispered quietly to myself. "Yeah," I said. "I'll see you in the morning."

And I l closed my eyes and slept.

* * *

**What'd you think? Yay? Nay? Let's be Parliament for a moment :) **

**Up next, ****_True Lies. _****Ugh. ****_That _****episode. But Silas and Damon are really, really hot. Not to mention, Stefan comes out of the safe! **

**Don't forget to review!**

_**Love, **_

_**BellaSalvatore1918**_

_**X**_


	2. True Lies

**Hello! I'm back with a new chapter :) Finally. This one was so long and hard to write, ugh. I don't know why. I think I just felt so unsatisfied (like I do with everything) so I kept re-writing scenes and re-doing scenes and ****_belch. _****Oh, well, it's here now, that's all that matters. **

**You guys are freaking AMAZING. Seriously. Thank you all for the positive feedback that you gave me last chapter. I loved reading all of those reviews, and I'm happy that you all don't like Elena :P That's kind of what this story is going to center around - Elena being a whore. Because, in my opinion, that's what she is. She used be okay in the earlier seasons but I just hate her now. Especially after what she did in 5x08. **

**ANYWAYS - Enjoy the chapter. Tell me what you think at the end :) **

**PS! I went back and changed Claire's name to Audrey because I realized there's already a character in one of my other stories named Claire, so that was a major oops. Oh, well, just know that her name is AUDREY now!**

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1 please :) **

* * *

**True Lies**

_He was sick. Terribly and horribly sick – and I knew he was going to die soon. His skin sweat twice as much as normal human should, though he was not a normal human. I felt this pit in my stomach – like I couldn't bear the thought of him dying. Why did he have to be the one to save me and my sister? Why him? Why couldn't it have been someone – anyone – else. _

_"It's okay, Damon," I said, though it wasn't true and I knew it. "I'm right here." The words made me want to cry. _

_"Madeline, get out of here," he said, his voice pained. I felt a chill run through me. "I could hurt you." No doubt he was referring to what he did earlier – practically drained me of all of the blood in my body. But I didn't care, it was Damon. I would be here until the end. _

_Though I hoped there would be no end with all of my heart. "No," I said quietly. "You won't, I know that." I choked on my own words. "I'm not leaving you." _

_He tried to say something, but instead, he rolled over in pain, crying out while thrashing back and forth. What was I supposed to do? How was I supposed to help him? _

_But this was my fault. His death was my fault. I had to help him in some way – any way I could._

_"Hey," I said, getting onto the bed. He coughed uncontrollably. "Shh, Damon, it's okay. It's gonna be okay." I cradled him in my arms and pressed the cold towel I got to his forehead, trying to soothe hm. _

_"It's not okay," he mumbled. "It's not okay." I was going to cry. I couldn't help myself. "All those years I blamed Stefan," he began. I took in a deep breath. "No one forced me to love her." He paused. "It was my own choice."_

_I swallowed, trying to remain strong for his sake and my own. "Shh," I said, breaking apart slowly. _

_But he continued like I wasn't trying to make him stop talking so he could conserve his strength. "I made the wrong choice," he admitted. I looked down at him and he looked back up at me. "Tell Stefan I'm sorry." _

_"You can tell him yourself," I stammered. "When you're okay. You can tell him yourself." _

_Damon let a small laugh escape his mouth, but he stopped and swallowed in pain. "In case I don't," he whispered. "Promise me that you will?" _

_I bit my lip. How could I promise that? I didn't want to accept it – the fact that Damon might die. With a swallow, I nodded, unable to form words. Why did this have to be so hard?_

_"I…promise," I said after a while as he waited my response. Time passed before he spoke again. _

_"This is even more pitiful than I thought," he said after a while. I held in a sob. _

_"No, Damon, this isn't pitiful," I argued. "There's hope. There's…still hope." _

_Damon was quiet for a moment. "I've made a lot of choices that have gotten me here," he began. "I deserve this. I deserve to die." _

_"What?" I asked, looking down at him. Damon said nothing. "Damon, don't you dare say that to me. You never deserved to die, especially not now." I slid down to face him in disbelief. How could he think that? How could he think that he deserved to leave like this? _

_"It's okay, Madeline," he said quietly. "I do. I deserve it." I opened my mouth to protest, but he stopped me. "If I had chosen any differently," Damon started, and I averted my eyes somewhere else. I couldn't here this. I wouldn't. He didn't deserve to leave this. "I would never have met you." Surprised, I looked up at Damon, who was staring at me. I avoided his eyes again as he continued. "I'm sorry," he began, and his voice made me start to cry. "I've done…so many things to hurt you. But…the truth is…I never cared for Elena as much as I've ever cared for you." _

_I held in a cry. "Damon, we shouldn't be…talking about this." I looked up at him. "Not now." _

_He let a half-smile come onto his face. "Then when?" he whispered. I sucked in a breath, trying to hold in my tears. I didn't want to talk about it. Not now. Not ever. "I'm sorry," he repeated. _

_But I had to. _

_"Stop," I said carefully, serious now, and it made my heart break into pieces. "I forgive you, Damon. I forgive you." I reached out and grabbed his hand, linking our fingers together. I missed it. Slowly, I put my head on his chest and awaited the worst. _

_"I know you hate me," Damon said slowly, "for…everything I've done to you." Damon paused and I felt a tear drop from my face. "But…I love you." My heart tore into more pieces at the statement. Why did he have to wait until now? Of all times. Right when he was about to leave me here with no one else. I felt another tear drop. "You should at least know that." _

_"I do," I said after a while, trying to gather my words. "Damon, you know I do." I looked up at him, propping myself up on my elbow. My eyes traveled to our interlocked hands, where his thumb was brushing the back of my hand. _

_He smiled again and turned his head with what little strength he had. "You should've met me in eighteen sixty-four," he started. "You would've liked me." I heard a small laugh escape out of his lips, and a cough followed. He was still avoiding my gaze. I felt my heart beat faster and faster until I realized what I needed to say. Something I had been trying to avoid since I declared that I knew he was in love with my younger sister, even though Damon tried to do everything in his power to prove that he wasn't. But it was blatantly obvious, and I wouldn't let my heart get broken so soon after I lost both of my parents. _

_I unlocked my hand from his and reached forward to put my hand on his face, guiding him back to me. "Damon, I love you," I said slowly. It was only going to hurt worse when he was gone, but at least I said it. At least he would know. _

_I saw the moment of recognition in his eyes, and, slowly, I leaned down and pressed my lips to his – the third kiss I'd had with Damon Salvatore. The one that mattered the most. _

_When I pulled away, his eyes were closed, and I knew we didn't have much time left. _

_"Thank you," he whispered, barely audible. I couldn't respond. _

* * *

Once more, a force light that woke me up, snapping me out of my sleep, had blinded me. I groaned loudly, realizing that it was probably Friday morning. At least it was Friday. But another day of school, nonetheless.

I slowly remembered my dream – the dream where I was in an alternate world with vampires. But what was the dream I'd just had? Was it a dream within a dream? My insides were ready to break out in tears because of the dream. The emotions were so powerful – as if I'd been there myself.

"Madeline!" someone snapped. Who was it? It wasn't my mother. It wasn't Audrey. It was…Elena? "I'm not going to do this for you every day, you need to start setting an alarm."

I rolled over in my sleep, letting my eyes slowly widen to see the Whitmore College dorm room. Whitmore College? The Whitmore College in my dream?

I shot up in my bed, suddenly awake. I looked at Elena and Caroline, who were doing their own things, not noticing me.

I was still…_here_.

"Megan's memorial outside is growing by the minute," Elena informed me. Caroline just groaned.

"Ugh. College kids are _so _dramatic. She was on campus for, like, _one _day. She couldn't have made _that _many friends."

Why didn't I go back into my own bed – into the real world? This was supposed to be a _dream. _A dream where I would wake up and laugh about it with Audrey and move on with my boring life – not to mention the fact that I would go to college soon and get a regular old crappy dorm room.

This wasn't _real_, so why was I still here?

"Caroline, she's _dead_. You can stop competing with her," Elena responded.

Caroline sighed. "Sorry, I'm in a mood," she apologized and threw something into a cardboard box. I ran my hand through my hair, only to find that blue streak again. I would have to die my hair back sometime. Although, it was growing on me…slowly.

Elena inhaled. "Have you talked to Tyler?" she asked.

"He's deferring from enrolling _and _deferring from returning my phone calls." Hearing the statement, I leaned over and checked my phone, myself. "So, _I'm _deferring from having sex with him ever again." Elena laughed.

_Four _missed calls from Audrey – Audrey Forbes as my phone announced. What was my last name? Before I responded to the four missed calls from Caroline's sister or my best friend in the real world, I looked through my contacts until I found Elena's. Elena _Gilbert. _

_Gilbert_? I thought in my head. _What kind of a name is that? _With a heavy, unappreciative sigh, I put my phone down and decided to call Audrey later. I threw the covers over my bed and walked over to Caroline and Elena at Caroline's bed.

"What are you doing, Caroline?" I asked as I approached her bed, where Caroline was looking through Megan's things and putting them in a cardboard box.

"Snooping," Caroline said simply.

I shrugged and gave a face of approval.

"Any explanation why our vervain-laced—" Elena looked behind her to see if anyone was listening in—"vampire-slaughtered roommate had a picture of our dad on her phone?"

"No," Caroline said sadly.

Elena looked disappointed for a split second before she remembered something. "Oh!" she reached down and pulled out a brown folder and handed it to Caroline. "Uh, I went to the hospital this morning. Megan's death certificate," Elena clarified. I yawned and rubbed my eyes. So a vampire killed the girl? Surely there must be more vampires out there other than Elena and Caroline, of course. "It says she died of suicide. No mention of the gaping vampire bites on her neck. So, whoever signed off on her death was apart of the cover up. Just like the Founder's Council back home."

"The Founder's Council?" I repeated. Elena hummed an agreement, not elaborating. What was a Founder's Council?

"Doctor Wesley Maxfield," Caroline read aloud.

"A.K.A, our Applied Microbiology professor," Elena announced to Caroline and I. Was I supposed to know what that was? Elena's next words proved that I wasn't supposed to know. "I switched all of our classes around so that we—"

"Applied what-what?" Caroline cut her off. "Uh, Elena, we're all supposed to be taking Intro to Communication," Caroline said slowly. "What happened to getting drunk and making bad decisions about boys?" Caroline raised her voice now. "What happened to our fun freshman year at college – I am supposed to be a _drama _major!"

"You're not going to be an _anything _major if we get exposed as vampires!" Elena shouted, a little loud. To be honest, it scared me just a little bit. Was being in the same room as an angry vampire really…_safe_? Elena took in a deep breath, recovering from her shout. With a laugh, she continued. "We are still going to have our fun year, Caroline," Elena assured her. "But we have to protect ourselves. The way Damon kept his secret in Mystic Falls is because he infiltrated the Founder's Council." Meanwhile, I was still confused on what, exactly, that meant. But the mention of Damon sent chills down my back. It was Damon who I was dreaming about earlier, and when Elena mentioned the vampire, for some reason, I felt myself flash back to the dream where we kissed. I felt like I could still feel it on my lips. Mentally, I slapped myself, and tried move on. "So bust out those alleged _acting _skills and let's get on it, okay?" Caroline avoided Elena's gaze for a moment, but Elena's smile was irresistible to Caroline, and the blonde smiled in return.

"Remind me why I have to go into that class again?" I asked her, slightly annoyed. "We can't all be vampire super-geniuses."

Elena sighed. "Come on, Mads." She groaned. "You know you only took Intro to Communication to be with us. You _are _the super-genius, even if you're not a vampire." I frowned and crossed my arms, but Elena didn't take that as an excuse. "Go get changed, we have class in an hour," she demanded, and I let out a disgruntled sigh before marching off into the bathroom like _I _was the younger sibling.

Considering the way Elena was acting, I probably should've been.

* * *

_"Madeline, I've been calling you since eight o'clock in the morning!" _Audrey scolded me through the phone while I put on my Converse. I still wasn't so happy with the outfit I was wearing, but it suited me much better than the mint-green shirt and shorts. This time around, I had on denim jeans, sneakers, and a cobalt-colored, multi-strapped tank top – much more _Madeline Reichs _than _Madeline Gilbert_. I still wasn't over that.

"I'm sorry," I said as I pulled myself off of my bed and looked in the mirror, surveying myself to make sure I was good to go to class. "I was sleeping. I like sleep," I argued. "But we have a real issue at hand, you know?"

_"Of course I know!" _Audrey said through the phone. _"I'm stuck in this stupid dream and I have no idea how to get out. I thought it would go away after I slept." _

I scoffed. "Join the club."

Audrey sighed. _"And the weird thing is, I had the strangest dream last night…it was almost like a memory or something. I was with this guy…Stefan, I think. It was…uh…weird." _

I felt my heart drop. "You had a dream, too?" Audrey responded with a hum.

_"Yeah,_" she agreed. _"Did you?" _

"Yes," I responded. "It was about Damon."

_"Who's Damon?" _

"Elena's boyfriend."

_"Isn't that the guy you used to date here?" _

"Yes," I responded with a heavy exhale.

There was a small pause. "_Well?" _she prompted. "_What happened in your dream?" _

I took in a deep breath. "It was…weird," I admitted, shrugging to myself. I looked in the mirror and took a good, hard look. "He was…dying. I think it was by a werewolf bite or something, don't ask me how I know that." I inhaled deeply. "I…I was terrified that he was actually going to die."

Audrey scoffed. "_Well, obviously, he's not dead." _

"Yeah," I said, my voice dropping as I remembered the words I spoke to him. But that didn't matter to this conversation, did it? "But the weird thing is," I continued, "I feel it…I mean, even after I woke up. It's like…a memory, like you said. And when I woke up, I felt everything I felt in the dream…for real."

_"Same with me!" _Audrey exclaimed. She paused for a moment. _"Do you think we're in a never-ending coma and we're stuck in this fantasy land?" _

I frowned at myself in the mirror, but I was directing the frown to her. "You and your imagination," I snapped gently. From the corner of the eye, I saw the time and began to rush off the phone. "Listen, Audrey, I've got to go. I'll call you back when I can." Without waiting for her answer, I hung up the phone and slipped it into my pocket, where I went out to meet Caroline and Elena at the front of the dorm building. Together, all three of us walked into the Applied Microbiology class in the main building.

"Hey, blow-off girl." Elena, Caroline, and I both looked to the side to see Jesse, the guy from last night's party. "Aren't you a freshman?" he asked us – specifically pointing at Caroline. Caroline widened her eyes. "How are you in this class?"

"What?" Caroline asked, nervously laughing. She turned her head to the board. "I love…Applied…Micro…biology." Elena and I laughed to back her up, but the guy just looked up at Caroline awkwardly. "It's my favorite biology. You know, little things are just…so _cute_!" Caroline rambled.

Jesse nodded. "Are you going to the bonfire tonight?" he asked. "Or are you going to get…_really _close and then leave again?"

We all laughed nervously, and it was becoming a stalling habit. "She'll be there," Elena answered for Caroline.

Jesse nodded at Elena. "Sweet," Jesse said, looking back at Caroline. "We'll hang." Nervously, Caroline laughed and then pushed Elena away with her, and I stayed for an extra moment to look at Jesse. I didn't know what Caroline's problem was, he was actually really good looking now that I got a good look at him. Realizing I was probably creeping him out, I followed Caroline and Elena to the seats, where they were in the middle of a conversation.

"He's cute, he's interested," Elena said to Caroline, and I assumed they were talking about Jesse. "And, most importantly, unlike Tyler, he's here."

"Seriously, what is your problem with Tyler?" I shot at my sibling. "Caroline wants to be with him, she'll be with him, lay off, Elena," I snapped. It was _annoying_, the way she was trying to turn Caroline into being with someone she didn't want to be with. It was also very rude.

Maybe it was because she was in a relationship she didn't want to be with. I snickered to myself at the thought.

Caroline looked at me and gave me a smile, and I just nodded at her in return, understanding the silent conversation that was taking place between us. Before anyone could continue their conversations, the teacher walked into the class.

"Morning, everyone," the teacher said. "I'm Doctor Maxfield. First name is Wes, but call me _Doctor_ Maxfield," he clarified, putting his bag down. Surprisingly, he was…young. Really young. And…oddly cute for a teacher. I gave a look of approval as he continued talking. "One day, when you're out of med school, you'll understand. " He leaned on his demonstration counter. "So. You're all going to this bonfire tonight, right? Well, here's a quick history lesson for you – Whitmore was founded as a hospital during the Civil War. Deadliest war in American history – over six hundred thousand casualties." Somehow, I wasn't sure how, though, I knew that. "Disease was so prevalent that – once a week – they had to gather all the dead, rotting bodies, put them in a pile and…light them on fire." The _Doctor _smiled. "So, tonight." He looked a bit annoyed. "When you're getting drunk and partying, stop for a second, close your eyes, and imagine the rancid smell of a hundred rotting corpses."

"Cree_py_," Caroline whispered to me as the teacher continued, getting into the subject of microbiology.

"Who cares?" I whispered back. "He's hot, it makes up for it." I shrugged, and Caroline just shook her head at me. Elena nodded at me and joined the conversation.

"I agree," she said simply, and I was about to retort until the teacher caught us off guard.

"Isn't that right, chatty girls in the back?" the teacher snapped, and both of us turned our heads to see the teacher. Well, that was a little rude. He didn't have to make such a big deal about it. "And what is that bacteria?" he asked us, and I thought back to the question. What was it, again? He was talking about dead bodies…

"Uh…it's uh…" Elena stuttered. She put her head in her hand. "Um…uh…I don't know."

"Maybe because you're freshman who shouldn't be in this class," he started. I narrowed my eyes at him in the slightest. Now I was angry, and I even knew the answer to the question. Ask me how I know and I couldn't tell you, but I knew it. I didn't get a change to interrupt him as he shoveled on. "How do I know? I'm observant. A skill you'll learn in Bio one-oh-one." He pointed outside. "Down the hall." The tone in his voice made my blood boil.

"Cadaverine," I said loudly as my sister and best friend sat, mortified. "The bacterium that rots dead bodies is Cadaverine." Elena wasn't lying; I was smart. Elena and Caroline turned their heads at me.

The teacher at the front of the room stared at me for a moment, as if in disbelief that I knew the answer. He squared his jaw, earning a smug smile from me as I leaned back in my chair. Seeing my victory, _Doctor Douche _continued, nodding. "Good," he praised. "Though it still doesn't excuse the fact you're freshman and aren't supposed to be in this class." Maxfield shrugged and my smile dropped. "So, leave." He gave us a smile, but it wasn't a pretty one. "Now."

* * *

Frustratedly, I exited the dorm building alone, as Caroline and Elena veered off on there own. Who _was _this douchebag – telling me to get out of his classroom? I was just as qualified to be in that classroom as anyone else.

I rubbed my forehead. This dreamland was making me more of a control freak.

Suddenly, I heard my phone ring from my pocket. When I looked down at it, I saw the words _Damon Salvatore _planted on my phone.

_Damon? _I thought to myself. What could he want?

"Damon?" I asked as I answered the phone call, surprised that the name of my apparent ex-boyfriend was on Caller ID.

_"Hey,"_ Damon said over the phone. _"Are you okay? Elena told me about what happened in your class today, and I know you get angry when you get kicked out of classrooms."_ He laughed like it was a joke between us.

"Well that explains it," I mumbled under my breath." Inhaling, I continued. "Uh, yeah," I spoke. "I'm fine." There was a pause. "Uh…Damon? Don't you think it's a little…_weird _that you're calling me? You made yourself clear—"

_"I know, I know."_ Damon exhaled. _"I just…wanted to make sure you're okay."_

I slipped my hand into my back pocket. "Well, you're right, I was angry," I admitted. "But I'm fine."

_"Good,"_ he responded. There was a pause until I talked.

"Hey, Damon?" I began. He hummed as a response to move forward. "Did...Well…" How was I going to say this? "Were you ever…close to dying?" I asked him quickly.

Damon scoffed. _"Which time?" _

"A werewolf bite," I clarified after a moment. "You were…dying because of a werewolf bite. I think it was the spring before last."

Damon took a silence before responding while clearing his throat. _"Uh…yes,"_ he started. _"Of course. Don't you…remember?"_ He was acting so awkward about it.

Quickly, I answered. "Yeah, yeah, I do, it's just…" I trailed off and laughed nervously. "You know, everything just bleeds together." I paused for a moment. "I…I told you I loved you, then, didn't I?" I asked, quiet. _Please say no, _I willed him, but the words out of his mouth were not the ones I wanted to here.

_"Yes. For the first time," _he added. There was another pause. _"Why? Are you…okay, Madeline?" _

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I assured him. "I just…I just blanked for a moment, that's all," I said, rushing the sentence out of my poor mouth. What I dreamt was true?

I felt a chill run through me as my stomach dropped fifty feet. I was about to say goodbye to Damon when I saw someone in front of me, and I recognized him. It was…Stefan Salvatore, Damon's brother. Elena had a picture on her phone that she was staring at, and I asked her who it was. She told me it was Stefan, and that was the man right in front of me.

"Stefan?" I asked, confused. Wasn't he supposed to be away – like I was?

_"Stefan?"_ Damon asked through the phone. _"What?"_

I approached the other brother, still keeping the phone on, and the other Salvatore smiled at me. He paused for a moment before inhaling and looking at my phone. "Turn off your phone," he suggested.

Without hesitation, I did what he told me to do, though I could clearly hear Damon's voice through the phone. _"Madeline! Madeline, no, listen to me—" _

"Madeline," Stefan breathed with another jaw-dropping smile. Now I knew why Elena was so torn between these brothers – though it still didn't give her the right to go home wrecking by screwing with mine.

"Stefan," I repeated. "Hi." From what I gathered, he was the only one who was my friend during the time I was told that Damon and Elena had slept together multiple times behind my back. Caroline sadly filled me in on the conversation earlier on. "It's…so good to see you," I said, pulling him into a hug. But…there was something wrong. Something…terribly, terribly wrong.

"Yeah," he returned, hugging me back. "You, too." I pulled away from him and smiled, but my smile disappeared when I looked at Stefan, but saw another face flash. An evil face. I blinked and the face was gone, leaving me with only Stefan's face to worry about…even though it was Stefan's face in the flash.

I was only confusing myself. Brushing it off, I continued talking to my former best friend, apparently. "What are you doing back?" I asked, trying to be normal with the Salvatore.

Stefan raised his eyebrows. "Damon didn't tell you?" he challenged. I scoffed.

"Don't you remember?" I asked, laughing slightly. "Damon and I aren't on speaking terms according to everyone. The man broke my heart." I shrugged. "Frankly, I'd say I don't remember a thing, but no one seems to believe me." I reached out and touched his arm. "What about you? Are you doing okay?" He was the one who probably remembered it all.

Stefan sighed. "Yeah," he said. "I stopped by Mystic Falls the other day and Damon said that you and Elena were here, so I figured I would stop by here as well." Stefan put his hands in his pockets. "Apparently, Jeremy got expelled or something."

I blinked. "Expelled?" I asked, raising my voice in the slightest. This kid was ridiculous.

"Yeah," Stefan agreed. "He and Jeremy got in this fight and Jeremy bolted…" Stefan trailed off.

"Then where the hell is Jeremy?" I asked. My brother was apparently the most troubled kid you could find in a high school. I had learned that Jeremy had died – and was brought back to life – by our friend, Bonnie, who was MIA the entire summer. If I had run into her, I wouldn't have remembered anyway.

"I don't know," Stefan admitted. "But I'm sure Damon has it under control." I sighed. "Speaking of, how are you holding up? You know, with the whole…thing?" Stefan said vaguely, but I knew what he was talking about.

I shrugged and we began to walk with each other. "Well, I don't really mind, you know?" I prompted. "It just…well, I thought I wouldn't mind, but they bother me…a lot. And everyone looks at me like I'm about to break!" I stopped in my tracks and sighed at Stefan. "Kind of like the way you're looking at me right now."

"Sorry," he apologized. "Hey, can you do me a favor?"

I shrugged. "Sure," I said. "What is it?"

For a moment, he just smiled, until he finally asked me to do something for him.

* * *

So far, this bonfire was making me sick. First, Maxfield's "story" about those dead bodies was sickening enough as it was, I couldn't get the subconscious smell out of my head. I decided to get a beer to calm myself down. But I knew it wasn't going to make me feel better. On top of _everything _– Maxfield's rude comments to me and the fact that I was still _stuck _here – that dream about Damon was true. The way I...felt was real. Everything about that dream was real.

I felt sick.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the keg tap to work. "This is just _not _my day!" I groaned, and, suddenly, there was a hand on mine, and the Jesse guy grabbed the keg tap from me as well as my plastic cup.

"I got that," he said over my gasps from the surprise. I smiled at him and he poured me the cup easily, and I frowned.

"I warmed it up for you," I said as I took the cup out of his hand and drained it. Even though I was only a senior in high school, I still knew how to drink beer. It was all gone by the time I came up for air. Jesse was looking at me like I was insane. "Ex-boyfriend drama," I clarified.

"Wow," he said. "Ex-boyfriend drama, getting kicked out of class…today is _really _not your day."

I laughed and hung my head. "Yeah, it hasn't really been the _best _day in the world," I admitted. "What is his deal, anyway?"

"Doctor Dickfield?"

"I prefer Doctor Douche," I shrugged, giving him a slight smile. Jesse laughed in return before puckering his lips in concentration.

"Tell you what," he began. "Help me grab some firewood and I will tell you _everything _you need to know."

I shrugged. What harm could it do? "Okay," I agreed, and we left to go into a wooden shed.

"I had Doctor Maxfield for a few classes last year," Jesse explained. "He's a _jerk_," I couldn't help but agree with an obvious nod, "But he's brilliant, so I'll give him a pass."

"Brilliant and creepy," I added. Jesse laughed. "It's true – I can't get that story out of my head. It's so disgusting."

"That's Doctor Maxfield for you," Jesse agreed and looked at me in a weird way. "There's…a rumor that he's a part of this secret society on campus."

I tried to remain normal. "What?" I asked, laughing. Jesse laughed a little, but I could tell he was being serious. "Like the kind of 'society' that sits around drinking bourbon-whiskey all day or the type of society that helps with the environment and stuff?" I asked, confused.

"I have no idea," Jesse admitted. "All I know is that, a few times a week, they supposedly meet at Whitmore House." I nodded in response and Jesse tilted a piece of firewood at me. "But you didn't hear that from me," he said cryptically. I smiled a him in return, until Jesse suddenly dropped to the ground and Damon was standing in front of me, his eyes flaring red.

"Damon?" I asked, confused. "What the hell?"

"Seriously?" Caroline said in a shrilled voice as she walked into the shed to see Jesse on the floor. "That's Jesse! I kind of liked him."

"We need to talk," Damon began, looking at me roughly. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Yeah," I said slowly. "We do."

* * *

Damon opened the door to our dorm room and walked in slowly. "All right," he said carefully. "I know you're going to get mad, so, before you do—" But I didn't want to listen to it. The feeling of Damon's lips on mine in that dream kept repeating in my head, and I needed more than that. I needed experience, not a _feeling._

I had no idea where it was coming from, but I felt the urge to do exactly what I was going to do to him.

"Mad isn't relevant right now," I said carefully and shut the door. "Sit," I demanded, walking over to him and shoving him into the desk chair. I climbed on top of him, straddling his waist, and I saw Damon's eyes widen slightly.

"Madeline," he began. "Madeline, I'm with Elena," he said frantically as I kept my hands firmly on his shoulders.

"If you really wanted to use this excuse, considering you're a vampire, I'd be off you right now," I challenged, looking at him with challenging eyes. But as I looked into his watery-blue ones, I could tell there wasn't going to be a single argument coming out of his mouth. Guilt? Yes. Opposition? No.

So as he hesitated, I took that as my invitation and launched forward, latching our lips together, and it felt ten times better than it did in my dream-memory. The feeling I had last night was intense, and this was magnified.

"Madeline," Damon groaned as he pulled away for a moment. "We really shouldn't be doing this."

"Stop me," I returned, but he didn't do anything as I kissed him again. To my enjoyment, he kissed back, and I felt my insides drop – in the good way. My hands slid down to his shirt as I moved, desperate for any type of contact I could get, and I quickly began to unbutton the shirt so I could slide it off of Damon's body with ease. Right about now was the time I wished I was a vampire, but, sadly, all wishes don't come true. Damon kissed me deeply – with no more protests to our encounter - letting his hands roam all over my body as I pushed his button-down off of his shoulders. He arched his back while we kissed so I could take the shirt off, and he removed his arms from my waist to help me in the challenge. Once it was on the floor, though, he titled his head and we kissed again, this time rougher and harder than before. Was it always like this? I didn't remember, but I could feel everything rushing back to me. It hit me like a boulder, and I found it impossible to stop making-out with the gorgeous, shirtless vampire underneath me.

But there was something I needed to do.

I climbed off of him, leaving Damon confused and probably frustrated, only to grab the protein water from a box beside the chair. Megan's protein water.

"Madeline, what are you—" I unscrewed the lid and shoved the water down his throat while Damon gagged on it, and my hands were free from the burns because I was not a vampire. When I felt like it was enough, I put the water down on the table and began to tie him up. Damon let the water drip down his face and onto his chest, still gagging. He was weakened by the vervain, and I was able to tie him up with something as little as Megan's jackets.

"Silas got into your head, didn't he?" Damon asked me as I tied the jackets angrily. I hated him. Every emotion he had given to me – the pain, the grief, the love – they blinded into one emotion: hate. I wasn't even a vampire and I knew that this was how intensified it was.

"I don't know who the hell Silas is, but I'm going to enjoy this," I muttered, giving him a sour smile. Damon just shook his head.

"You know who Silas is, Madeline." He groaned. "And, obviously, he got into your head."

And, obviously, I didn't question it one bit; because I was going to enjoy this.

"Once a cheater, always a cheater, Damon," I sung as I got up from the floor. "Maybe if you hadn't kissed me back I wouldn't be doing this right now."

"Well, it's kind of hard," he snapped, "considering _everything _that we've been through."

I laughed. "There's nothing hard about resisting someone," I challenged. "But, like I said, once a cheater, always a cheater."

I grabbed a stick from Megan's box of things as Damon sighed. "What did Stefan tell you to do, Madeline?" he asked me.

"Weaken you," I said simply. "And then kill you." I broke the stick in half with all of my strength and threw the other part away, making the edge nice and sharp for me to stake the vampire before me with. But I saw him struggle against the jackets, and I knew he was getting stronger. I held the stake in one hand and brought out another bottle in the other, and - quickly – I shoved the water down his throat and threw the bottle away with no effort. He gagged on it and I braced the stake to go through Damon's heart, but Damon spat water all over me. Though it didn't burn me as it might've done to a vampire, I was taken by surprise for a moment.

"Madeline," Damon gasped, choking.

And, suddenly, everything changed in a moment. Instead of the shirtless Damon before me, I saw the sick Damon – the one who was claiming that he deserved to die. That feeling that I received in my dream rippled through me, and I shook my head. My own voice echoed through my head, saying his name like I was afraid he was going to die.

I repeated the voice inside of my head. "Damon…" I trailed off. "What the…what am I doing?" I questioned myself, looking at the vervain water dripping down Damon's chin. I looked into my own hand to see the stake I had just broken off.

"You're in some sort of Silas trance," Damon explained. "But I think you snapped out of it."

"Silas?" I asked. "Who the _hell _is Silas now?"

Damon didn't get the question I was asking. "It's Stefan. Silas is not in the quarry, he's in Stefan's form – well, his true form. Stefan is Silas. Silas is Stefan," Damon explained. I didn't bother asking about Silas again, all I felt was blinding rage ripple through me.

"Well then where the hell is Stefan?" I said angrily.

Damon sighed. "Can we please not talk about this when you don't look like you're about to drive a stake through my heart."

"No," I said, looking at him with obvious murderous eyes. "We can't. Because _every _time I look at you I want to drive a stake through your heart for what you did to me." Where was this even coming from? I remembered nothing, but I felt…_everything_.

"It's Silas," Damon pleaded. "Madeline, listen to me, I know you hate me – I _know _that. But he's using your anger at me as a trigger, you have to resist it."

"How?" I asked, raising the stake. "I can't do it, Damon, I'm a human," I said through my teeth.

"You have to resist it," Damon whispered to me. "You have to get through this, Madeline, I know it's hard, but please. Listen to me."

"I'm trying!" I yelled and let the stake drop to the ground by my own will. I looked around for something – anything – and I finally found what I was looking for. I grabbed a chair and sat down with the knife in my hand. Someone better heal me after this was over with. I drew back the knife and plunged it into my stomach, thanking this version of me to know about anatomy. I put the knife somewhere where it would take a while to bleed out. I let out a scream from the pain, feeling it ripple through me like no tomorrow. I tilted my head back and cried out, feeling the mind-numbing pain. Damon looked at me, and I saw his eyes turn, but I was too blinded by pain to care that it was unnatural. I looked at Damon for a moment. "Damn…you," I breathed out through my teeth.

Damon shook his head. "Don't get angry at me," he warned. "You need to let it go, Mads. You hate me because I cheated on you with Elena."

"You want me not to get mad?" I yelled out loudly, trying to stop wincing from the pain. "_Don't _remind me of it," I said with pauses in between. I tried holding it together as much as I could. For the last two days, I didn't know why people looked at me like I was about to break – but now I realized. I was in love with him, and he took it all away from me. Made me feel like I wasn't good enough.

Broke my heart.

I ripped out the knife to cause more pain to distract me, letting out a cry. The knife dropped to the floor in front of the fire.

"You can't get angry at me, Madeline," Damon said quietly. 'The trigger," he reminded me.

"How am I supposed to not get angry?" I asked, sweat dripping down my forehead. "My _sister, _Damon, my _younger _sister! All you ever cared about was _her_."

"That's not true," Damon swallowed and rolled his head around to look at me. "That's not true and you know it, Madeline." The memory I had flashed back to me.

_But…the truth is…I never cared for Elena as much as I've ever cared for you._

Damon continued, "You mentioned when I was about to die of the werewolf bite today," Damon said, swallowing. Could he read my mind or something? "I told you then. I never cared for Elena as much as I cared for you back then."

I let out a laugh. "And then it changed," I responded. "You _don't _care about me, Damon, not anymore. It was always Elena," I breathed, still in pain from the knife.

"Madeline, it was you," he said. "For the longest time, it was you."

"That's not _good _enough!" I snapped and reached down to pull something. I realized too late that it was the gas connecting to the fireplace.

"Madeline, that's the gas," Damon noted. "You don't want to kill me, please stop."

"But that's _all _I can think about!" I raved. "Killing you. It would be the only way to make you feel how I felt like _all _summer," I said, and I felt the tears threatened. Again, I remembered none of it, but the feelings…it was like they were planted there – given back to me.

"You're going to have to think of something stronger," Damon said, his voice a little louder. "How you felt when you were _with _me, Madeline. Not how you felt when it ended."

I let out a strangled laugh. "The problem is," I began. "I don't _remember _how I felt about you while we were together."

"Yes." Damon breathed slowly. "You do. It's there, Madeline, you just have to find it."

"No!" I shouted, angry. "No one understands – no one gets it!"

"I do," Damon returned, opening his eyes to look at me. I felt myself grow weaker and weaker from the pain in my stomach. "I remember every second of it, Madeline – we were happy." I swallowed. "You loved me. I loved you. We fought together to save Stefan and stop Klaus. Every step of the way, we fought it together." I was silent. "I gave you that necklace," Damon said, gesturing towards my neck. I looked down at it and touched it, confused. He gave me the necklace? "Remember?" he said quietly.

"No," I whispered. "But…" I trailed off. I had nothing to say, for once.

"I told you I loved you…countless times," he continued. "Until I was blue in the face." Damon paused. "You didn't believe me, until that night when I was about to die and you said it back, and we _finally _got together." I took in a deep breath, wincing from the pain. "I took you to the Mikaelson ball. We danced together. We had a fight, I made a mistake, and we broke up for a while," he explained. "But you still loved me, and you know it."

I was about to say something, but there was a sharp, shooting pain – and it wasn't in my stomach. I let out a cry and my head felt like it was exploding. Suddenly, I felt flashes of images – painful images. What was happening?

It was Stefan. He was smiling in one moment, and in the next, he was looking as if he'd seen a ghost. I was watching through thin eyes a something happened, and then it went black. I felt a pain ripple through me, like I could barely breathe.

When I finally resurfaced, I'd had enough. This dream world wasn't very kind to me – I didn't like it. I wanted to go home.

I looked up at Damon, who was looking at me with sheer concern.

"Madeline," he said worriedly. "Madeline, are you okay?"

"It's Stefan," I said slowly. "He's…He's in trouble, Damon, something happened and…I think I was there."

"You _think_?"

I gritted my teeth. "I _know _I was there, Damon!" I snapped. Damon flinched in the slightest and I took a deep breath, wincing from the wound. "He's in trouble Damon, we need to save him. I think it was…" I took in a deep inhale. "I think it was my fault."

Damon looked at me for a moment, wondering if I was serious or not. But, in the next, he nodded. "Okay," Damon whispered. "Okay, we'll save him."

I nodded, and let out a long exhale. Suddenly, when I looked at Damon, I didn't see the color of blood anymore.

"It's gone," I announced, gulping. "I don't…want to kill you anymore," I muttered under my breath.

And, in that moment, Caroline burst into the room, sighing heavily. Damon and I turned to see her and her eyes widened at the sight of us. I took in a deep breath, but the pain was too much to handle. There was no doubt that I was going to lose consciousness if someone didn't help me.

"What the hell happened?" Caroline asked, confused, as she walked over to Damon and untied him from the chair. Damon slowly got up, still weak from the vervain. He stumbled in the slightest, and I just didn't pay attention as I pressed in my wound more, trying to keep me conscious. From the corner of my eye, I saw Caroline pick up the stake that I had broken, still confused. She looked at me while Damon made his way over to me and got on his knees. I looked at him, my breath slow, before he tore his teeth into his wrist, and I winced at the pain _and _the sound. I felt empathetic pain.

Damon brought his wrist up to my lips and fed me, healing me with the power of his blood. He looked down to the floor while I drank, and I was better in a few seconds, most of the pain fading away. When I felt okay, I took my hand off of my wound and pushed his wrist away, and Damon looked up at me.

"Thanks," I said slowly, and he nodded at me.

"You're welcome."

* * *

"I _knew _I was right about those premonitions all along," Elena groaned as she put our suitcases into the trunk of Damon's car. I was leaning against the blue Camaro, staring at her while squinting my eyes because of the bright sun.

"You're not the one who's having creepy flashbacks about him," I countered.

"Yeah, I still don't get that," Elena said, shutting the trunk. "What…exactly…happened again?"

I began to panic. Besides the fact that I kind of made-out with her boyfriend and then tortured him shirtless while he convinced me that we loved each other? Nothing at all.

"Uh…" I trailed off. "Just…things, you know, I had that flashback, blah, blah, blah"—I spotted Caroline come behind Elena and I pointed at the blonde—"ooh, look, Caroline, say goodbye, I'll be over here," I rushed out. I was never good at lying. Why was I even panicking? Elena was the one who took a home run with Damon while I was with him – if anything, I was the innocent one.

While Caroline was talking to Elena, I checked my phone for something – anything – to do. I just needed a little…breathing space. This was all getting too complicated for my brain to take. Unless, of course, my brain created this world and I was just a mere pawn.

"Going somewhere, Madeline Gilbert?" someone asked, and I looked up. Through my squinting eyes, I saw Doctor Maxfield approach me, and I softened my eyes as he came closer.

I nodded. "Back to dodge," I said coldly. He looked at me with confusion. "There are some…things I need to take care of," I told him. With an inhale; I crossed my arms at him. "What do you care, anyway?" I asked, slightly harsh.

He frowned. "I'm…sorry about being a hard-ass earlier," Dr. Maxfield replied, and I could somehow tell that he was genuinely apologetic. "It's…kind of my thing."

"Is that supposed to be an excuse?"

"Absolutely," he agreed, and I scowled. "But, seriously, you are a very brilliant woman," he praised, but I was hardly buying what he was selling. "You're…Grayson Gilbert's daughter, aren't you?"

_Grayson…Grayson Gilbert? _I thought to myself. The man in the picture? "Yes," I said eventually. "Why?"

"He was brilliant, too," Dr. Maxfield replied. I blinked.

"You knew him?" I asked.

"Knew _of _him," Maxfield corrected. "He's a legend around here. I can only hope to do the kind of work he did around here. I studied his research," Maxfield explained to me.

I narrowed my eyes. "So…does that mean that he _also _forged death certificates?" I asked in all seriousness. Maxfield hung his head for a moment before sighing.

"And here I thought you were just passionate about microbiology."

"Consider it a small hobby compared to what I'm _actually _passionate about," I countered. He laughed.

"I have office hours tomorrow," he told me. "Come by. We can chat."

I sighed. "Well, _normally_, I would, but I don't really have time for _yet another _self-absorbed person who I don't remember on my schedule." Maxfield was confused, but I didn't think he wouldn't be. "It's a long story, maybe I'll write a book someday," I continued. Wes laughed, and I felt myself grow slightly angry. This guy just _annoyed _me. It was bad enough that he made me feel like an idiot, he was trying to do…_what _with me now? Normally, I wasn't this objectively cruel, but this was a special case. I wasn't having a good week.

Maxfield nodded. "Well, if you ever do have time for one," he offered, leaving it open-ended. Maxfield left without another word, leaving me open-mouthed as well.

"Who was that guy?" someone asked from behind me, scaring the living daylights out of me. I clutched my chest and recovered from my scare as I saw Damon face me while looking behind him to see Maxfield walking away.

I sighed. "That idiot professor who kicked me out of his class even though I was probably the smartest in the room," I told him and Damon turned back at me with a jaw-dropping smile. I shook it off. "He wants me to stop by to meet with him and talk about my…_dad_."

"And…this…_professor _guy doesn't strike you as creepy?"

"I never said he didn't."

Damon nodded to himself for a moment before continuing the conversation. I knew what was coming next. "Madeline—" he began.

I cut him off. "Stop," I said, holding my hand up at my waist. Damon was silent. "Damon…it shouldn't have to be this…hard." I swallowed and looked up at him. "I was under Silas's compulsion. That's it. It was a mistake and…I won't do it again," I promised.

I could see a flicker of an emotion that I wasn't able to concentrate on fly by in Damon's eyes until he finally nodded. "I agree," he said, clearing his throat.

I nodded. "Good," I said, turning away to leave. Damon pulled me back with my name.

"Uh, Madeline?" he began, and I turned around to face him again. "You kept saying that you didn't remember anything…that's why I had to explain everything to you." He paused. "What was that about?"

I took in a breath. The moment of truth. I could tell him that I wasn't apart of this world – that I didn't belong here. That this was a figment of my imagination or some freaky mishap. I would tell him that I didn't remember another moment of our relationship besides the one I had as a dream.

But I couldn't do it. It wouldn't change anything – I would still be stuck here. With people who think I'm crazy, no less. If they really believed that I was one of them, would they believe me if I said that I was from the real world and they…_weren't? _

I cleared my throat. "You know, I've been having a little trouble getting my head straight since the summer ended," I lied, nodding my head. Could I pull this off – lying? All I had to do was tell the partial truth. "Maybe it has something to do with Silas…I don't know." I looked up at him and smiled. "But, uh…I remember now. Your explanation really helped, Damon, thanks."

Damon tensed for a moment and gave a look of confusion, and I prayed to whatever God that existed that he wouldn't figure out that I wasn't telling the whole truth – and making up most of it. A true lie. That was accurate.

"Okay," Damon said after a while. "Well…I'm glad." He paused. "Because…after everything, Madeline, as selfish as it may be, I don't want you to forget." Damon looked at me for an extra moment, and I felt my breath catch, and in the next moment, he was gone, leaving me standing alone, watching him as he walked away.

Thankfully, I saw the next person that came up to me. It was Caroline. She didn't notice who I was staring at as she pulled me into a hug.

"I'm going to miss you _so _much, Madeline," she raved. There were a few other rambles, but all I could focus on were Damon and Elena. She put his arms around his neck and they talked for a moment, and then they were kissing. Why was the sight so…_hard _to watch? I felt my stomach drop in the bad way while looking at them.

Caroline pulled away and smacked my arm. "Madeline!" she snapped. I broke my gaze from Damon and Elena and looked at Caroline.

"What?"

* * *

"We didn't find anything in the quarry, but a deputy found this a few miles away," Caroline's mom – Sheriff Forbes – told Damon, Elena, and I as we walked in a forest, Damon's hands supporting me as I was the _only _human to trudge through the millions of tripping hazards. I was never one with coordination, and that apparently carried over into this dream world. "Didn't open it," Sheriff Forbes said as she began to twist open the safe. Damon released me of his support as we came to a stop in front of the large, clunky safe. "If Stefan's been in here for three months"—Caroline's mom stepped away from the safe and backed away, grabbing my arm with her. I reluctantly went with her. "Chances are, he's hungry."

Damon looked up at me and Sheriff Forbes. "If you think he's going to attack you, _run_," Damon commanded them, waiting for our understandings before he opened the safe fully. Both Sheriff Forbes and I nodded and Damon turned back to the safe, where he exhaled largely and unlocked it. Elena braced herself, ready to get Stefan under control on demand, I guessed.

Damon swung open the safe door and peered inside. Elena looked inside and then shied away. "Oh my God," she said, but I didn't get a look inside of the safe. Sheriff Forbes held me back so I could only see everyone else _but _whoever was inside of the safe. "That's not Stefan," Elena said, observant.

"Well, you were right, he was hungry," Damon said to the Sheriff. Elena, Damon, and Sheriff Forbes looked around, as if trying to find Stefan. "I bet he still is," he said as he looked down at the safe again. I pushed past Sheriff Forbes.

"What is the big—" But when I got a look inside of the safe, I turned away and held my mouth just like Elena did, though I was sure hers was hunger and mine was nausea.

Was it possible to get sick in a dream?

The next few moments proved that, yes – it was completely possible to get sick in a dream; and it was ten times worse than getting sick in the real world.

* * *

**Okay, that's all the Damon/Madeline scenes I'll be doing for a while. Obviously there'll be some tension there, and eventually there'll be some anger and a confrontation and plot twists and yada-yada, we all know how that goes. Obviously, Audrey and Madeline won't be leaving this world for a while, so no matter what Madeline tries to do about it, she can't change that. Neither one of them can. **

**Obviously they'll both develop more in-depth character plots, and I'll have a lot more flashbacks in...5x04, I think. Madeline's going to go on a bender after she hears Damon's confession to Elena...yeah, that's not going to be pretty. But we all have to remember that she doesn't control her own feelings anymore, she's basically another person within...herself...if that makes sense...I don't know, I'm probably just confusing everyone more so I'll just shut up now. **

**Tell me what you thought of the chapter! I'm here for any questions and I'll update as soon as I can. **

**_Love, _**

**_BellaSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**


	3. Original Sin

**Kind of a short chapter, but it does the job. Next chapter is one of my person favorites of the season - For Whom the Bell Tolls. I haven't figured out the plans for that chapter yet, but I'll try my hardest. **

**If you would do me a really, ****_really _****nice favor, I have uploaded a Season 1 story a couple days ago, and I would love it if you guys would read it. It's called ****_Bloodshed. _**

**By the way, have I thanked you guys enough for all of the reviews, follows, and favorites? I was worried that no one would like this idea. So thank you all, it really means a lot to me. **

**Enjoy this chapter! I know all of you out there are rooting for Damon and Madeline...I feel bad for you. Their relationship is ****_so _****not easy. **

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1 please :)**

* * *

**Original Sin**

I woke, with a jolt, in the bed I woke up in on my first day here. Gasping, I looked around in my cold, empty bed, realizing that I was _still _in this goddamn dream.

Maybe…it wasn't a dream.

I didn't have _time _to worry about it right now. The images of my recent dream snapped over my vision, giving me feelings of guilt and treachery. The sun gleamed into the window, blinding me from focusing on anything but those feelings.

Stefan was in danger. Stefan was…hungry.

Bloodthirsty.

_It was a dream within a dream, Madeline, _my subconscious whispered. _Go back to sleep. _

But before I could, I heard a voice.

"Wake up, little Miss Sunshine," someone quipped, and I focused my eyes and turned my head to see Elena coming up to me, already dressed. But…Elena was…different. "Something tells me that we just had the same dream about a certain Salvatore." Elena smiled.

I raised my eyebrows. "What are you talking about, Elena, I'm tired," I said, my voice quiet. I reached up and rubbed my head. "Let me go back to sleep."

Elena scoffed. "Nice try, Mads, I know you're angry with me, but we've got to get going." Elena walked over to my bed and ripped the covers off of my body, and I groaned.

"Elena!" I snapped.

"Stop calling me that," my sister demanded, and I opened my eyes to see her.

"Would you like me to call you something else or…?"

Elena glared at me. "No, Madeline, I just want you to keep calling me by my doppelgänger's name."

"Doppel-what now?" I asked, trying to go back to sleep again. Why did everyone insist on ruining my perfect sleep? I was _tired. _I liked sleeping. They needed to just leave me alone.

"Ugh!" The not-Elena groaned. "We don't have time for this, Madeline, _get up_! If you and I had the same dream, I'm willing to bet the few dollars that I have left on the theory that Elena did, too, so get up, get dressed, and I'll go talk to Elena and Damon."

If she wasn't Elena, then who the hell was she? And why was I still _here_? I felt like burying my face in my pillow and forcing myself to wake up. I hated this dream world. I hated myself and _everyone _in it.

Not to mention the fact that my hair was _still _blue.

* * *

"So, I found _nine _bars off of Route Twenty-Nine," Damon informed Elena and I as he walked into the living room. Elena was mapping out…something. What did I know? My weird subconscious wouldn't let me out of this hellhole that these people called a life and I was just deprived of my full twelve hours of sleep. "And _none _of them are called Jo's," he finished.

Elena shook her head. "I had a feeling that something was wrong with Stefan _all _summer, and I ignored it." She sighed. "But I was right. Stefan was in a safe." Elena gave a bitter laugh. "And probably killed whoever it was that found him."

"Don't you find it a little _insane_ how we're following a lead based off of a _dream _that we all had?" I asked, voicing my opinion. After all, dreams weren't that reliable. I would know.

"It doesn't sound insane, it _is _insane," Damon agreed, looking over at his girlfriend. I wanted to upchuck right then and there. Why did I dream of being _Elena's _sister? This had to be Audrey's dream. I couldn't have dreamt up such a self-absorbed _princess _in my own dream. Elena frowned at Damon. "But I'm open minded," he added at the end, and I rolled my eyes.

"Don't you two get tired of bending to each other's command?" I snapped. What was even coming over me? Oh, yeah, I was stuck in this world without any friends except for Audrey – and I had _no _idea where _she _was – and, on top of it, I had to spend the rest of my day with my younger sister and her boyfriend, who coincidentally happened to be my ex-boyfriend.

What a life.

Damon opened his mouth to speak, but that Elena look-alike walked out, her hand holding a bag by her forearm. "Shotgun," she called. Damon and Elena looked at the look-alike with curious eyes. "What? I get carsick in the backseat."

Wow. I might've liked this Elena look-alike more than I liked the actual Elena.

The look-alike stepped down and into the living room. "A charming _human _side effect that you _stuck _me with," she said bitterly, looking at Elena accusingly. The look-alike dropped a bag on the table and Elena let out a hiss.

"_Please _tell me that she's not coming," Elena said through her teeth. Was I sensing tension?

"Trust me, I have no interest in Katherine's well being, but – for some reason – Silas wants her _real _bad. And if Silas wants her, _I _want her more," Damon hissed.

I found myself staring intently at the two Elena's in the room. It was too uncanny. How could they look _exactly _alike? Even twins didn't share that similarity – they were somewhat different.

I was getting a headache.

"Can't we just stash her in the cellar?" Elena asked, bitch-mode activated. "Or maybe a deep, dark well_…_" She turned to Damon and smiled. "With a pair of water wings?"

I frowned at her. "Stop trying to be funny, Elena, it's not working," I snapped. She looked at me, confused. Oops. I forgot that dream-me and my dream-sibling were supposedly on good terms. Oh, well.

Katherine continued the conversation. "Do you honestly think that I wanna take a road trip with _you_?" she snarled. "America's most _boring_ self-righteous vampire?" Elena rolled her eyes. "Just remember, Damon wouldn't have to play bodyguard if you didn't shove that Cure down my throat."

"Wait, _she _took the Cure?" I blurted out. I looked at Elena and just rubbed my head. "See, this is what I don't understand. Didn't you say that you don't want to be a vampire? Why the hell didn't you just take the Cure?" Everything was silent. "Ugh!" I shouted. "These are the things that people need to tell me about!" I snapped, and realized that I had made a huge mistake. What if they _had _told me? How would I get out of this one?

"Yeah, you missed a lot while you were gone, sweet-cheeks," Katherine quipped, shooting me a smile. I let out a sigh of relief. I didn't know about who took the Cure. Thank God. She walked over to a piano bench and looked at Elena. "Though, I will admit, I do take pride in knowing that you _did, _in fact, waste your one shot at a human life on me." She smiled widely. Elena scoffed.

I was done with the tension in this room. Everything was too complicated. There was no _way _I could've dreamed of this intricate storyline.

Maybe I had to accept the fact that this was real? There's no getting out of it.

But I didn't want to. I had a life before I came here. A happy one. All I felt in this one was sorrow and despair and…pining. I didn't want to pine. Not for someone who obviously didn't want me back.

Without a single word, I left the room and walked outside. I have had enough of this hellhole.

All I wanted was to go _home_. And it didn't help that I had no one to talk to, especially since Audrey was probably at a back-to-school party right now and I was stuck _here _with my younger sister, her boyfriend, and a girl who looked exactly like my sister.

"Madeline?" someone asked quietly, and I turned around to see Damon closing the door behind him two bags in his hands. I stared at him for a moment, and my breath hitched. "Are you okay?" Damon began.

I stared at him for another moment. Was I okay? Was I _okay_? No. I wasn't okay. I walked forward, shaking my head, and lifted a heavy bag out of his hands. "Yeah," I said slowly as I tried to grab the bag from him, but he wouldn't let me. "I'm fine, Damon, I've got it."

"It's heavy," he warned.

I grimaced. "I can deal with it."

"I don't—"

"When are you going to stop treating me like a child?" I snapped angrily, and I was sure that my eyes flashed red with anger. He looked at me for a moment, but he didn't take offense to it. He just smiled.

"Go ahead," he offered, and I held onto the bag while he dropped it. When it was in my arms, I felt the weight of the bag, and with a grunt, it fell to the ground, not supported by my weight. I tried to pick it up, but Damon was entirely right – it was way too heavy.

"What the hell do you have in this thing?" I said through a grunt. "Rocks?"

Damon chuckled and walked back to me, grabbing the bag and letting me straightened. I sighed. "I told you not to carry the bag," he pointed out. I frowned at him just as he walked over to the trunk of his car and Elena and Katherine walked outside of the house, and we all climbed into the car to get on the road.

* * *

An hour or so in, we all rode in Damon's car, speeding down on the highway. I sat with Katherine in the back while the two _lovebirds _sat in the front together. I was mentally disgusted. Even the _real _me didn't like them together, let alone the fake me.

"Are you sure you know what you're looking for?" Damon asked all of us in the car. Personally, I didn't really remember much of the dream except for the feelings that ran through Stefan. It was like my feelings times ten. His pain, his sadness. The only thing there that wasn't inside of me was the hunger. He looked outside of the car. "The last bar had a red awning _and _a neon sign."

"I'll know it when I see it," Elena responded. Katherine shoved me aside to fit her head through the window between Damon and Elena's seats. I realized that I probably wasn't the only one who didn't like them together.

"Me too."

"I didn't ask you," Damon said with a bitter smile.

Katherine frowned at him. "I'm just trying to make conversation." She moved back in her seat and I sighed. "Anything to drown out the sound of eggshells breaking," she murmured under her breath.

"What about you, Madeline?" Damon asked, catching my attention as he looked at me through the rearview mirror. I let my eyes wander over to him. "Have you seen the bar yet?"

"I don't really remember it," I admitted with a shrug. "I don't really remember much of it, actually, I just remember how he felt."

Elena opened her mouth. "How did he feel?" she asked sympathetically.

"Scared," I answered. "Sad. Hungry." I looked outside of the window and exhaled. "Terrified," I said underneath my breath.

Things were silent for the longest moment. I didn't mean to make it awkward, I was only telling the truth. Elena muttered, "I knew I should've listened to that feeling." She turned her head and looked out the window, as if holding in a cry.

Why was she so _damn _upset? So she didn't listen to it? Get over it. We're trying to save him now, at least.

I didn't understand this world of mine, and I didn't think I wanted to know.

"Yeah, I overheard that," Katherine said, pushing me again to lean against Damon and Elena's seats. "You've been dreaming about Stefan _all _summer? Must be hard on a new relationship. _Especially _when you're having_ those_ kinds of dreams while lying in bed next to his brother."

"They weren't dreams," Elena said quickly. "It was like Madeline said – it was just a bad feeling. Like something wasn't right with him."

"Oh, no, yeah, I _totally _get it. There's still a connection between you two. Maybe, deep down, you know that he's your one true love and breaking up with him to be with your sister's boyfriend was a big mistake."

"Katherine," Damon snapped, his voice harsh. I flinched slightly. "Let's not get into that."

She shrugged. "I'm just saying." She looked at me and winked. "Don't worry, sweetie, I'm on your side. What Elena did was such a _slut _move. And yet she can't admit that it was the wrong thing to do. Even _I _would be able to admit that." Katherine turned to Elena and gave her a pointed look. My heart gave a blackening squeeze.

"Ignore her," Damon said angrily. "As soon as the vervain's out of her system, we'll compel her and put her on mute," he said, partially chipper.

Katherine moved on. "You know, I wonder. Maybe Stefan's been trying to reach out to you all summer, but you were too busy with Damon, so he reached out to the two people he trusts – me and Madeline." No one said anything and Katherine leaned back in her seat. "Nah. You're probably right. All three of us had the exact same dream on the exact same night. Why would that mean something?"

No one said anything, and we just continued down the highway.

* * *

Finally, after another hour of awkward silence in a car with my sister and my ex, we pulled up to a bar, and my memory flashed, and I recognized it as the bar in my partial-dream. I touched my head after seeing the flashback memory, and Damon and Elena got out of the car quietly. Katherine was sleeping, and I sighed once before Damon held the seat of his convertible open for me and pulled me out, and I whispered a small gratitude as we all exited the car.

"Are we really just gonna leave her in the car?" Elena asked.

Damon looked at her with exhausted eyes. "The only time she _shuts up _is when she's sleeping, I don't want to disturb our peace and quiet."

Elena sighed and stopped in her tracks, and I barely noticed before Damon spoke. "I thought you said this was the one," he said to Elena.

She exhaled. "It is. It looked _exactly _like it did in the dream." Elena looked at Damon. "Isn't it a little…_freaky_?" she asked.

I scowled at her. "Elena, why?" I proposed. She looked at me and crossed her arms. "_Yeah. _It's freaky. We know that. Now come on, Stefan could be inside and he's probably hungrier than I felt in his dream. Stop asking stupid questions." Younger siblings. I didn't have any, but now I knew how it felt.

Without any more words, all three of us walked inside of the bar, only to _not _find Stefan, but to find a woman maintaining the empty bar. She had whitish blonde hair and a bandage on her neck.

"Can I get you something?" she asked, turning to us.

"Yeah, sure," Damon began as he leaned on the bar and looked at the girl intently. With a smile, he began. "Why don't you tell me what happened to your neck, Jo?" he suggested.

Surprisingly, the girl answered his question. Was this a vampire thing? "Uh…some sicko attacked me. Bit me. Told me to run, so I did, and when I looked back, he was on fire."

"The sun must've come up," Elena whispered. "He doesn't have his daylight ring."

Damon continued. "And then what happened?"

"Some woman shoved him into a truck. Drove away."

"Did you know this woman?"

"No. Uh, he was driving Cam Peterson's truck? He lives about ten miles down that dirt road out back?" Jo said the statements like she was prompting us. She smiled at Damon and poured him a shot of alcohol. "You look like you could use one of these," she told him, passing him the drink. Elena glanced around the bar while I was just confused. Stefan was…_kidnapped_?

"Hmm," Damon said with a grin. "I could. Thank you." He tilted his head back and drained the contents in his glass. After all, who could resist a pretty girl who offers alcohol, right? Suddenly, Damon began to cough, I blinked at him. Why the hell was he coughing? Did he have a cold?

"Damon?" I asked, confused. "What's going on?" Damon choked up the alcohol that he drank, and it spurred all over the counter and onto the floor.

He choked again and slammed his hand on the table loudly, making me flinch. "Vervain," Damon said to me, his voice strained as he gasped.

Elena turned back and looked at the bartender. "What did you do?" she demanded, grabbing the glass that Damon had taken the alcohol from.

"I told her to pour him a drink," someone said, interrupting our trio. I sensed a strong accent. "Or I'd kill her."

Damon shielded me with his body as the woman raised a gun in her hands and pointed it at Elena. Why the hell was he protecting me? If I died, I would most likely go back into the real world.

I wondered it that would work.

"Who the hell are you?" Damon demanded, still coughing lightly after the vervain that was pushed down his throat.

Suddenly, before the woman had a chance to answer, Katherine walked into the bar, worriless until she finally saw that we were under attack. She looked back and forth between Katherine and Elena. "Which one of you is Katherine Pierce?" she demanded. Definitely an accent.

"She is!" Katherine said, pointing to Elena. Wait, no, that wasn't right…

The woman smiled. "Katherine is a compulsive liar." She looked at Elena and pointed the gun at her. Wait, did it actually work? "But I need her alive." I was still confused. Damon's hand grabbed mine and gripped on it hard, protecting me. I felt like shoving him off of me out of sheer anger. Who gave _him _the right? After all, he chose my sister over me.

Suddenly, Elena attacked the woman, and looked back at Katherine. "Katherine, _run_!" she demanded. With no hesitations, Katherine fled the bar in an instant at human speed.

"You really do look exactly alike," the woman hissed before she threw Elena against the wall and fled as well, and Damon finally let go of my hand. I felt it throb. He walked over to Elena and pulled her up.

"Wonderful," he sneered. "Now I've got a vampire bounty hunter to deal with," he said, staring after the woman's trail. "Let me guess? Euro-bitch was _not _apart of the dream?"

"I've never seen her before."

"Yeah, well, whoever she is, she wants Katherine, which means that she's probably Silas's spy," he said under his breath, panting. I stood by the bar, just utterly confused. I was still not too clear on the whole "Silas" bit. An Immortal? A witch? I didn't know.

"I'll go chase after her," Elena breathed as she walked away from him. "You two go save Stefan." She shot a glance towards me before Damon pulled her arm back and spun her to him.

"Wait, what? No. She almost killed you!"

Elena took a hesitation. "We don't have time for a detour," she convinced him. "Stefan's hurt. Find him." She tried to leave again, but Damon stopped her again.

"Wait, no! Stop." She turned back to him. "_Any _sign of trouble, you let her go, do you understand me? I don't care how much Silas wants Katherine, she's not worth a hair on your head." I felt like the words were so familiar. Where did I hear them before?

_"Don't you dare, Madeline! Klaus wants Elena, not you. She'll be fine." _

_"But Damon, if I can do anything to save her, I will." _

_"You will not! I don't care how bag Klaus wants her, she's not worth you dying for."_

_"Damon, she's my sister. I love her." _

_"And I love you. Doesn't that matter?" _

I blinked, and it was just in time to hear Damon say something under his breath, and I stiffened just as Damon's lips touched hers, and she smiled at him and left. The feelings that I got when they said goodbye to each other at the Salvatore house before we left for Whitmore consumed me.

"Go," Damon demanded. She kissed him again, and my heart felt like it was beating twice as fast against my chest. Damn human heart. She left him without a word, and I just stared. Damon looked at me once and I walked out from the corner of the bar while I cleared my throat.

"Maybe I should help," I said. I just didn't want to be alone with Damon again. It wasn't a good idea. I turned from him, but he fled over to me, and I jumped as I saw him right in front of my body, blocking me from going anywhere.

"You're kidding me, right?"

"No, actually, Damon, I'm not," I snapped. He looked down at me and squared his jaw.

"You can't go out there. You're human. You could die."

"Yeah, well, Elena could die and she's out there so it's the same thing."

"No, Madeline, it's _not_."

"Yes, _Damon_, it is," I snarled, but he didn't want to listen to me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me from the bar, his touch gentle but abrasive. "Let go of me!" I demanded as he dragged me out to his car and pushed me into the front seat before getting in. I tried to open the door, but he locked it before I could get anywhere. "You're so _frustrating." _

"You'll thank me when you're alive," he promised, pulling out of the bar lot and going down that dirt road that the bartender was telling us about. I gritted my teeth.

"I don't understand you," I said, crossing my arms. Damon sped up the car. "You say one thing and you do another. Make up your mind, Damon," I said angrily.

"What the _hell _are you talking about, now, Madeline?" Damon asked, slightly annoyed. I glanced over at him.

"You want to protect me and you're in love with my sister. Pick a side, Damon, you can't have it all."

"You need to stop pretending like I don't care about you, Madeline," he hissed. "We both know that it's not true."

"Well, to me, you don't!" I snapped.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that all you do is pretend like you care about me to make yourself feel _good_," I said through closed teeth. "But you know it's not true so just stop acting." I crossed my arms and looked out the window as the trees hastily passed us by.

He was silent for a moment. "Do you honestly believe that?"

I rolled my eyes even though I wasn't facing him. "No, Damon, I'm just telling you this so I can create _more _of a conflict between us."

"But that's what you _do_, Madeline!" Damon yelled, louder. "That's all you ever did while we were together – build walls around you and me."

I turned my head towards him. "And _that's _supposed to justify you _cheating _on me with Elena?"

"No, of course not!"

"Then what was your reason for it, Damon?" I let out a light laugh. "What could _possibly _be the reason for cheating on me with my sister?"

"Nothing!" Damon shouted, and I remained silent. The only sound between us was the roar of his engine. "Nothing," he said, his voice softer. "Nothing can justify the fact that I slept with Elena or justify the fact that I hurt you." I dropped my eyes. "But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to do everything in my power to protect you." I opened my mouth, but he continued. "And don't you _dare _say a word about me not caring because I would rather _die _than let you die if I could've done something about it – and this isn't about guilt, Madeline, this is about me _caring _for you." He paused. "Like I _always _have."

He stopped the car at a small old cabin, and we were silent for a moment before I talked.

"Well maybe it's time to stop," I suggested quietly, and he turned to me with a sigh.

"What do you mean?"

I looked at the cabin and then at him, but realized that this was _not _the time to get into this conversation. I cleared my throat. "Nothing." I gestured to the car door. "Let me out now so we can go save Stefan."

With a slight hesitation, Damon unlocked the door of his car and we both climbed outside, neither of us saying a word as we walked hastily into the cabin to figure out what the hell was going on with his brother.

When we walked in, Damon looked around once, and I just looked at Stefan, who was in a ring of some kind of flower, and he was sitting in a chair, tied up with a strange stem-like rope.

"Stefan?" Damon whispered, walking towards Stefan. "You couldn't call, brother?" Oh, so Damon-like.

Stefan struggled against his ropes. "Nice to see you too, Damon." Suddenly, Stefan's eyes moved towards mine. "Madeline," he choked. "How did you—?"

I held up a hand. "Questions later, saving now," I said, walking up to him as well.

"What the hell is going on here?" Damon asked.

"Well," Stefan began. "Silas's ex-girlfriend decided to come back from the other side," Stefan explained. Damon began untying the stem-like rope.

"Qetsi-whatever?" Damon struggled with the rope.

"It's Qetsiyah." I jumped out of my skin, turning around to face a beautiful woman, holding a flower. I let my heart recover and she just stared past me like I didn't exist, looking at Stefan. "Do you see why I want to change it?" She walked towards the fireplace without another word. Well, wasn't she a happy camper?

When she got to the fireplace, she spoke again. "You won't be able to brake those vines," she warned. "The spell won't release him until I get what I want."

Damon stood up. "Well, I guess the rumors are true. You are a ray of sunshine," he said facetiously. "Question—why is my brother wearing your _compost _pile?"

"I'm going to link Stefan to Silas," the Qetsiyah girl said, standing up and holding a bowl in her hand. "Casting a spell on his doppelgänger will neutralize Silas's mental powers. Once he's weakened, I will force him to take the Cure." I was still confused on the whole doppelganger part. Stefan had a doppelgänger? Where was mine? Or Damon's? It seemed like this world had a shitload of doppelgängers to throw around.

"Well, that's a great idea," Damon laughed. "Force the Cure down his throat." I flinched as he raised his voice in his next words. "The Cure's gone! Done. It's ingested."

"Katherine, you mean? I'm aware of her condition. She was _supposed _to be with you," Qetsiyah snapped.

"Wait, Katherine took the Cure?" I nodded. Did he get stuck in this dream world, too?

Damon looked down at his brother. "We have a lot to catch up on, Stefan." He looked up at Qetsiyah. "Wait, what do you mean 'supposed to be with' me?" he asked. Qetsiyah was silent and Damon realized. "Did you plant those dreams? Was it some kind of witch party trick?"

"If you planted those dreams in our heads then why am I here?" I asked, confused. It didn't seem like I had much of a storyline in this alternate universe other than the fact that I was a heartbroken girl who was still pining after her ex but had to see him every day with another woman.

"I need you," Qetsiyah said simply and then looked back at Damon. "So where is she?"

"We…ran into a little snag."

"Then I'll get started without her," Qetsiyah said after a while. She began to wave her hands over the bowl and chanted while she did it. _Witches_? Oh, God. What was next? Werewolves? No, _hybrids. _Vampires and werewolves. I wouldn't be surprised if I was half human half _unicorn _or something.

"Okay, well, thanks for the hospitality, but we should really get going if we want to beat traffic," Damon said sarcastically, patting Stefan's shoulder. Stefan nodded at him once as the witch kept chanting.

"Yep. Yep. He's right," Stefan agreed.

"What is she doing, Damon?" I whispered. He shrugged.

"Madeline, when I tell you, you're going to jump into the circle. Stefan, you're going to feed on her."

"What?" I demanded, my voice louder than usual. Damon stepped in front of me.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," he said slowly to the witch. I peered at her over Damon's broad shoulder.

Qetsiyah looked up at Damon. "Probably don't want to get on my bad side," she suggested. Damon let me go and stepped around the circle to face her.

"You realize that you're not the only one with a bad side, right?"

"Aren't you brave?" Qetsiyah laughed. "And for a girl who will never be yours – that takes some skill." Damon narrowed his eyes at her. "Relax, she won't be killed."

"You think my brother's _taste buds _will listen to that demand?" Damon pressured.

Qetsiyah frowned. "Without Silas's mental powers, he is an immortal _nobody. _We can defeat him. Isn't that what you want?" she asked. Damon was silent.

"I'm okay with it," I blurted out. Oh, dear God, why did I say that? Damon looked back at me and growled.

"Madeline."

"No, Damon, I'm okay with it," I assured him and looked down at Stefan. "You won't hurt me, will you?"

"Madeline, he's right," Stefan choked. "You shouldn't put yourself at risk."

I knotted my eyebrows together. But, somehow, I knew that he was lying. I wouldn't be putting myself at risk by doing what Qetsiyah asked. Stefan could stop. He would.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "Stefan, I trust you."

"What the…?" Damon trailed off and looked at Qetsiyah. "No! No! I won't let it happen."

"Madeline has made her decision," Qetsiyah said, ignoring Damon. "Now it's up to Stefan," she said simply. I swallowed and Stefan looked up at me.

"Do it," he said after a while. "Just…do it, all right?"

Without hesitation, Qetsiyah nodded to me. "Step inside now, Madeline," she said slowly, and I swallowed. Stefan and Damon watched me as I took a step inside of the circle, and I turned to Qetsiyah.

"What do I do now?"

"Offer your wrist," she said, nodding her head to him. "I did promise that it won't kill you, but it will make you unconscious for a while," she added. I nodded at her once before I turned back to Stefan.

"Don't kill me?" I suggested. He let out a small laugh.

"I'll try," he said, but it wasn't too reassuring. I let out a shaking breath as I offered my wrist to him, and I could see that terrifying face that the vampires in this world make when they're about to feed. I looked away, but my eyes caught Damon's, and he was staring at me angrily. I wanted to apologize, but I felt like it wasn't really his choice to make.

I felt it when Stefan bit into my wrist, and I bit my lip to keep form screaming. He drank with only his mouth, clenching his fists hard.

"Keep drinking, Stefan."

But he was draining me – more and more by the minute. When would it end? I felt the pain surge again, and I collapsed over, hunching to try to keep from screaming about the pain more.

"Keep drinking, Stefan."

"More?" I heard Damon ask.

"He needs just about all of it."

"I thought you said it wouldn't kill her!"

"It won't."

All of a sudden, I began to feel it when my body slowed down, shutting off everything. My eyes fell weak and I could feel my knees buckle. The power inside was getting drained from me, and I felt like I had been drained of every last drop in my body before I collapsed onto the floor with a bang, and everything fell to a dark, dark color.

* * *

_I was angry, but at the same time, I felt like he could've been much more understanding to my situation. Elena was my sister – I had to do everything in my power to protect her, even if it meant sacrificing myself to Klaus and dying to save her life._

_But he didn't want to let me go. _

_"And I love you," he whispered. "Doesn't that matter?" _

_I stared at him for a moment. "Damon, you _know _it matters," I whispered. "It will always matter, but…" I trailed off, taking in a deep breath. "I just can't let it. Not right now." _

_He set his mouth in a hard line. "When will it matter, Madeline?" _

_"Damon—"_

_"No," he said, cutting me off. "I'm serious." He paused to look at me. "I didn't compel you after you got kidnapped by Elijah to forget that I told you I loved you because you asked me to. I didn't do it. And I'm telling you now, straight in the face, so why don't you believe me?" _

_"Damon, I believe you, I just…" A breath of hot air left my mouth. "I can't let that get to me. Not right now. Not when there's something that I can do." _

_Suddenly, he rushed towards me and put his hands on either side of my face, holding me in place. His hot breath mixed into mine as he stared into my eyes. _

_"Elena will be fine," he said slowly, looking down at my lips. I swallowed. "You need to stop pretending like no one will miss you if you left us." _

_I shifted under his touch. "It's not a matter of if anyone will miss me, Damon," I said softly. _

_He shook his head. "Yes, it is." Damon pulled away and ran his hands down my shoulders, causing me to shudder. "I can't imagine another day without you anymore, Madeline." _

_I took a while to answer. "You're not…thinking straight," I said at last, turning away._

_But Damon flitted in front of me, and a small gasp escaped my lips. "What will it take to have you realize that I am serious about this, Madeline?" He gripped my shoulders. I realized that I had pushed him too far. _

_"Damon, please—"_

_"You're not going to die. Not on my watch." _

_"I don't have to die." _

_"Damn right you don't." _

_Suddenly, he bit into his wrist, and I realized what was coming next. "Damon, no!" But his wrist, which pressed heavy blood into my mouth, muffled me. I struggled against his touch, but he just kept it there, waiting as the thick strands of blood fell down my throat and into my system. At last, he pulled away and I shoved him off of me, falling back to the floor in response. _

_"How could you?" I demanded, wiping away at my lips. He just stared down at me. _

_"You wanted to die," he said with a harsh tone. "Now if you do, you'll become what you fear the most." Damon looked at me for an extra moment as I stared at him with sheer terror. I hadn't felt this way with him in a long time – afraid of him. _

_We were back to square one._

And then I woke up, surrounded by complete and utter darkness once more, my gasps and pants the only sound in my ears.

* * *

**So unhappy with this chapter. I'm really unhappy with everything in this story, ugh. But oh, well, I'll deal. Sorry I've been too busy to update, but here I am. I'm actually surprised I finished this chapter in time. It was actually pretty short – these ones are normally like 10,000 words and this one was about 6,000. A big difference. **

**Again, I would really appreciate it if you went and checked out my Season 1 story that I updated a couple days ago; it's called ****_Bloodshed. _****If you read it after this A/N, thank you so much. If you don't, it's all good in the hood ;) **

**I'll be back soon - promise!**

_**Love, **_

_**BellaSalvatore1918**_

_**X**_


	4. For Whom the Bell Tolls

**Can we just talk for one tiny second about how ****_amazing _****last night's episode was? I just want to give a round of applause to my baby Damon Salvatore for finally standing up to the hoe bag. No lie, I was literally jumping up and down the entire night. I was so happy. **

**Anyway, onto these matters! I'm actually getting somewhere in my plotline and I know exactly what to do now! No fear, I am not going to keep Madeline and Damon apart forever; I can't do that to them. But prepare yourselves for sexual tension galore because I'm going to have some fun with this. **

**So, this entire chapter is completely AU except for the ****_very end. _****It'll help you guys get a better understanding of Madeline and Damon's relationship. By the way, I hope I didn't keep you guys too long with the update. I apologize if I did. Also, more on the whole Madeline plot line later on, starting in 5x06 and going on through 5x07. **

**THANK YOU SO MUCH for every single review that you all have given to me. I have no idea how you all stick with my crappy writing, but I am so appreciative of it, you have absolutely no idea. 40 reviews and ****_three _****chapters? Like, damn, you guys work really fast. I can't thank you enough. **

**Enjoy the treat of Damon/Madeline scenes. Again, I promise that their relationship won't be as prolonged as Rachel and Damon in KOR or Klaus and Rachel in KOR. They all have some issues that need to be worked out. **

**As for Damon/Elena/Madeline? We all know Elena's a whore so she can sit in a corner and cry for a while. **

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1 please :)**

* * *

**For Whom the Bell Tolls**

I rubbed my hand across my face, trying to get the horrible memory-dream out of my head. He loved _me?_ He actually loved me?

What the hell was happening to me?

As if it weren't confusing enough with the whole Stefan-draining-my-blood thing, I had _this _to worry about? Would I have a memory-dream _every single _time I fell asleep?

I take back what I said about not drinking Coca-Cola. If I had these dreams _every _single time I feel asleep then the only solution would be not to drink at all.

I looked at the door of this strange room and wondered: Did the Salvatores have soda?

I gave a light shrug and brushed back the covers off of my body and walked towards the door. It was dark all around the house, and I could barely see a thing. I didn't even know where I was going but, somehow, my body knew. I just followed it with a sigh and watched as it lead me to a kitchen, right where I wanted it. I opened the fridge in the vast kitchen to – surprisingly – find a bottle of soda sitting right there for the taking. Without hesitation, I went for it.

"One more."

The sound scared me so much; I was knocked off of my guard. I stumbled back into the fridge, jumping around and practically out of my skin.

But what I saw before me was _much _more frightening.

"Another one?" I sighed – but it wasn't _me. _I mean, don't get me wrong – _she _was _definitely _me.

But how could I be standing by the fridge and…_also _standing by the sink, talking to Damon?

The other Madeline reached out for the glass with an irritated smile, but it seemed to slip through her hands and I braced my own self, waiting for the crash. But, instead, Damon caught the glass, and then I realized.

_Oh. Right. Vampire. _

She looked up at Damon. "_Nice _save, Superman," she teased him skeptically, laughing as she examined the glass, which was left without a scratch. I couldn't have called him _superman_. This can't be real.

"I like you," he said, pointing a finger at her. "You know how to laugh. And you know, your sister makes my brother smile. Something I haven't seen in a long time."

"What makes you say that?"

He tilted his head at her – me. God, this was confusing. I looked at my clone that was not much more than ten feet away from me, and instantaneously realized that she didn't have the blue streak in her hair. _Well, damn, _I cursed inside of my mind, frowning in a hard line. Lucky bitch didn't have to deal with her hair falling out. What even possessed me to get highlights, anyway?

"Elena didn't tell you?" Damon proposed, curious. "Stefan's ex-girlfriend died a couple years ago. Katherine," he explained. Katherine? The girl who looked exactly like Elena?

I – her – she – me – _whatever _stared at him for a while before picking up a plate in the sink and bringing it over to the open dishwasher. "If you don't mind me asking," she began. "How did she die?"

He grabbed the plate from her and straightened after putting it in. "A fire," Damon explained. "Tragic fire."

"What was she like?" the other Madeline pushed. But Katherine didn't die! I just saw her yesterday!

What the _hell _is going on?

"She was…beautiful," Damon admitted to her. The imposter before me hung her head slowly and Damon began again. "A lot like you, might I add," he flirted. She just stared at him for a moment.

"You can't be serious," I thought out loud. Did that actually _work _on me? No. No way. But no one answered me.

Damon continued. "She was also very _complicated _and selfish, and at times not very kind – but she was sexy and seductive."

I – the other me – scoffed. "It sounds like _she _was more than a friend to you," she challenged, eyeing Damon. I crossed my arms over my chest after putting down the soda bottle on the counter.

"Nicely deduced," he praised.

"I'm very smart."

"I'm sure you are."

The other Madeline didn't respond as Damon closed the dishwasher. Instead, she walked over to the middle of the kitchen and began to fold towels. Why I was folding towels, I didn't know.

"I would punch that teacher in the face if I were you," Damon said lowly, but it wasn't so low that I couldn't hear. "You didn't deserve what he did to you."

"You saw that, huh?" she – I – laughed. I rubbed my head in confusion. Was _she _me? Was _I _her?

"Total douchebag," Damon commented. With a smile, he added. "_Mr. Douche_."

My heart raced faster and faster. No. He didn't just say that. This is a dream. It had to be. It _had _to be.

The girl in front of me let out a strong laugh. "He's not the best," she admitted. He looked at her with pointed eyes. "Okay, _yeah. _He kicked me out of his class this morning, I hate him!"

"Mm," Damon agreed with a large grin. "What's his name? Mr.…?"

"Tanner," the other Madeline filled in. "Also known as Mr. Douche." She gave him a light grin.

"You'll get through it," Damon promised. I felt my heart squeeze for a moment. Why? I didn't want to remember this. I didn't want to remember any of it. "And if he does it again, I'll kick his ass."

Madeline laughed, and I watched as genuine happiness slid across her face. Why? Why was this happening to me? As if it weren't bad enough that Damon was breaking my heart just _seeing _Elena and Damon together – just _knowing _that they were together. I didn't want to see this. I didn't want to remember.

"I might have to take you up on that sometime."

And, just like that, it faded before me, and I was just happy that it was over.

* * *

It wasn't long before I returned upstairs to deal with my issues – or…maybe just go back to bed and let it slip away for a while.

Oh, no. But I couldn't go back to bed. Because, if I did, then I would be condemned to face another memory.

I felt like crying. I _loved _sleep. Why did it have to be so cruel to me here?

When I got upstairs with the bottle of soda in my hand, I felt myself stop when I realized that I was staring…at myself.

_Again? _I demanded with a roll of my eyes visible to the person before me. But, instead, the other Madeline just took in a deep breath and looked behind me, as if not realizing I was there. With a sigh, I turned to see Elena at the stairs, wearing a satin blue dress – the color of my highlights. I looked back at myself to see that I was wearing a burgundy dress – sort of like the color of Elena's highlights.

So my sister likes to steal _everything _from me? Even my favorite color? Well thank God I stood up to her and nabbed her favorite color, too. The only time I'll ever admit that my highlights actually have a purpose.

"Miss Elena Gilbert, escorted by Stefan Salvatore."

I looked to the bottom of the stairs, expecting to see Stefan, but instead, I saw a kid that I had never seen before in my life. Elena just gave a limp smile and descended the stairs with grace, not even once faltering at the fact that her boyfriend wasn't at the bottom of the staircase.

"And, finally, Miss Madeline Gilbert, escorted by Matt Donovan."

Matt Donovan? Who was that now? _Another _vampire or a human this time? This world rarely had humans. I was surprised they weren't all extinct.

With a long, heavy sigh of annoyance and irritation, the imposter in my conscious memory walked forward and began to walk down the stairs slowly, and – knowing myself – I was trying my hardest not to trip.

Yeah, that sounded like me.

But at the end of the staircase, as I went back down and tried to follow myself, I didn't see this "Matt Donovan" person – I saw…_Damon. _He was in a tuxedo and…

I shouldn't finish that sentence. It wasn't appropriate seeing as how I was telling myself that I needed to move on from him.

"Where's Stefan?" the other me hissed to Damon as they joined hands and, through smiled teeth, walked outside. I followed them.

"I don't know," Damon whispered back.

"Matt?" she prompted.

"I compelled him to do something to preoccupy his time," Damon said simply. I could tell that the fancier Madeline was trying her hardest not to laugh.

"You're terrible," she whispered.

"I know," he shot back as they continued outside, and I followed them still. I didn't know what made me want to, but I knew I couldn't look away.

Both the other Madeline and Damon separated so they stared at each other across the space that they were given. I heard something in my ear.

"Why is she with Damon?" a light-haired twenty-something woman whispered to a guy with bronze hair who was in a suit.

"I have no idea."

"I think they look cute together," someone else whispered, and I looked to see Audrey.

_Audrey_? I thought. What was she doing here?

I rubbed my head again. This was so confusing.

I walked forward and watched as the song began and the other versions of Damon and Madeline bowed towards each other.

"What are we going to do?" she whispered.

"Right now we just have to get through this," Damon whispered back. When they pulled back, she nodded, and the time began to dance.

Was I _seriously _in a soap opera? Dances? Dinners? Ball gowns?

I felt like being sick again.

Both of them looked at each other once, and then the dance began. Madeline raised her hand just as Damon rose his, and they walked around each other.

What is this? Some kind of old-fashioned style dance? We weren't living in the eighteen hundreds anymore! The ball gowns? The dance? What _was _this?

My head hurt.

I watched as they returned back to their positions, and with the other hand, they repeated the process. I crossed my arms and kept watching as they returned and repeated the movement with both of their hands, and after they returned to their positions and the real fun began.

I could tell that the other me was trying not to laugh, though Damon wasn't making it easy for her. I felt like laughing while watching it – the whole thing was ridiculous. The intensity of the eye contact was groundbreaking, and Damon smirked lightly, not that that was any help. When they joined, I felt my heart beat faster and faster, and it was no doubt what was happening with the other me.

I was going to finish my sentence now.

Damon Salvatore looked handsome…beautiful…gorgeous – whatever you wanted to call it.

And I wanted it. I wanted him.

And as I watched him pull the other version of me around the floor with ease considering _my _elegant grace?

It only made me want him more.

The end of the song came too quickly, and I stared at the two before me, my breaths slow and quick. They separated at the end, and he smiled at her, she smiled at him, and I could only imagine the heartbreak that would soon come.

But the conscious memory faded quickly, and I was left staring at nothing but a hallway, my heart pounding for more.

But I cleared my throat and realized – he wasn't mine anymore. He wasn't with me anymore – he was with my sister. Damon Salvatore did not want me, he wanted her.

And I realized why everyone was looking at me like a fragile piece of glass when I came back. I had my heart broken and I didn't even realize it.

I couldn't let it get to me right now. I needed to sleep. Sleep was good. Sleep was better than staying awake and remembering every beautiful thing that happened to you – every important thing, at least. Having a memory-dream was better than a conscious memory. In a conscious memory, I had my own separate feelings.

At least I didn't separate myself from myself in my memory-dreams.

* * *

_I walked up the porch steps of the house that I called home. It had been a long day – Damon almost getting killed, the Gilbert device being used, Elena's real father nearly killing Damon and Stefan, Bonnie betraying us._

_Like I said, long day. _

_But as I got up to the third step before I reached the porch, the door opened and Damon stepped outside. My heart beat faster and faster, and I tried to mask it from him by turning my head. _

_"Uh…Damon," I said slowly. "What-What are you doing here?" I questioned. _

_"Failed at a feeble attempt at doing the right thing," he answered me. I nodded, still keeping my head turned slowly. I saved his life tonight. I hoped he didn't know that. _

_"You gonna look at me, Madeline?" Damon asked, his voice low. I let my eyes slide up to meet his face and realized that my cover was blown. Damn. He was quiet for a moment. "You know, I came to this town wanting to destroy it, but tonight, I found myself wanting to protect it. How does that happen?" _

_I shrugged lightly, slipping my hands into my pockets. "Things change sometimes," I offered with a small smile. _

_He stared at me for a moment. "I'm not a hero, Madeline," he began, his voice quiet. "I don't do good," Damon continued. "It's not…in me." _

_I stared at him for a moment. "Damon, you're a vampire," I said slowly. "Did you think that I expected something else?" _

_He stared at me for a moment. "Did you?" _

_Damon's blue eyes paralyzed me for a moment, but then I snapped myself back to reality. "No, Damon, of course not, I'm…I'm hardly one to judge," I admitted. "Uh…Goodnight, Damon, I'll…" I tried to walk up a stair, but he pulled me back down gently by the forearm. I braced myself. _

_"You saved me," Damon began. "Tonight." _

_"That was Bonnie." _

_"And why do you think she did it?" _

_"For Stefan." _

_Damon was quiet for a moment. "True," he admitted. "Yes, she did it for my brother, but she wouldn't have done it if someone didn't back him up." Damon looked at me for a moment, as if figuring it out. "You told her to save me, didn't you?" _

_I tried to pawn it off as no big deal, though it was. He'd already made himself clear. "You were going to die, Damon, no one was going to let that happen."_

_He shook his head. "She did it for you." Damon stepped closer to me. "Which means that somewhere, along the way, you decided that I was worth saving." He was quiet for the slightest second. "And I wanted to thank you. For that." _

_I swallowed, nodding carefully. "Y-You're welcome," I said, my voice wavering. _

_"Listen," he began. "I know that I hurt you when I said that you mean nothing to me." I felt myself tense. "But, Madeline, you have to know that that isn't true." _

_"Damon—"_

_"You mean something to me, Madeline," Damon said, cutting me off. I listened. "You mean…a whole lot more than I thought you would've." He was closer to me than ever, and I felt my heart pound in my ears. Why did I want him so badly? Was this normal? To want a vampire in a way that was unimaginable? Painful, almost? Caring for a vampire that you know might be bad and terrible, but you don't care? _

_"Your heart's beating," he whispered slowly, his eyes focused on my lips. _

_"Kiss me," I demanded, and he blinked once before looking up at me, and I nodded at him, giving him the permission that he needed. Damon only needed to lean forward a fraction of an inch before our lips were touching, and that's exactly what he did. Fire burned within me, spreading like a wildfire that I couldn't control. I only wanted more. Why did I feel this way? Why did I want him like this? It was _wrong _to think such a thing about an evil vampire. _

_But I couldn't stop. _

_As he pulled away, as if cautious of my feelings, I stepped forward, keeping us together. When Damon realized that I wanted this just as much as he did, he lifted his hand to keep it attached to my face, and he controlled the intensity. I let him – with all my willpower still intact. The way that his lips shaped on mine felt empowering, and I didn't want it to stop. _

_I never wanted it to stop_

_And that's what scared me. _

_Unfortunately, it did, and my only clue was the sound of a door being opened. _

* * *

I woke up, shooting up fast in the Salvatore bed, my stomach winding around and around, dissatisfied with the ending of the dream. I collapsed back down on the sheets, my breath slow, and I could feel my heart beating.

I leaned over and grabbed the bottle of Coca-Cola, washing down a sip of it before getting out of bed and walking to the bathroom to wash my face and rid myself of the feelings that still lingered. What was happening to me?

"Nice PJs."

_Oh, no,_ I whined in my thoughts as I slowly made my way up from the sink that washed me with cool water. I turned my head to see Damon in a room that I was not in before, sitting on a window seat. The other Madeline walked into the room and sighed when she saw him.

"Damon, I've had a long day, just make it quick," she pleaded. I guessed that things didn't work out so well after the kiss.

Damon got off of his seat and walked over to her – me. Ugh. I didn't know anymore. Damon held up a locket, and I looked down at my own body to see the shining circlet that rested on my chest. Subconsciously, my hand reached up and touched it lightly, just as I saw him hold it up in front of the other me – the one with no streaks in her hair.

She was…surprised. "Oh, God, Damon, I thought that was gone." The other Madeline let a wide smile across her face. "Thank you so much, Damon." She reached out to grab it, but Damon took it from her before she could grab hold of it. Her smile left her face instantly. "Not funny, Damon, give it back, please."

He opened his mouth, but then stepped forward. "I just have to say one thing first."

"Well, give me the necklace first."

"I can't do that."

"Damon!"

"Relax," he said slowly, soothing her. The other Madeline crossed her arms and looked at the floor for a moment. "I can't give you the necklace because what I'm about to say is…" Damon swallowed, trying to choke it out. "…Probably the most selfish thing I've ever said in my life."

My heart squeezed. The other Madeline stared at him. "What are you trying to tell me, Damon?" she whispered.

"I just have to say it once. You just need to hear it." Damon had moved closer to the other version of myself now. "You made your decision to keep your distance from me after we kissed that night," he said, his voice lower. I felt my heart give a tug. I made my decision? Did I not want him anymore after that? "And…I realize that, but…I need to tell you something." Damon was silent for the longest moment before he spoke. "I love you, Madeline Gilbert," he choked out, and I knew it wasn't easy for him.

"_Please, _Damon," the other girl whispered. "Don't do this. I know what you're going to do. You didn't just tell me just to take it away, Damon, don't—"

"You don't understand," Damon whispered, taking his hand and placing it on my imposter's cheek. "I can't let you know this, Madeline. I don't deserve you."

"No, Damon, it's _me _who doesn't deserve you," she pleaded. "It's not your fault, Damon, I'm the one who messes everything up, I'm _always _the one who messes everything up. _Don't _do this." My clone's voice was so frantic, it was like she didn't want it taken away from her. She didn't want to not know how Damon felt.

"How could you think that?" I saw Damon's thumb brush her cheek. "How could you think that – even for a second? I was the one who killed your brother, I was the one who ruined us."

"No," the other Madeline persisted. I swallowed hard. Why was this so difficult for me to watch? "I needed an excuse to get out of it, Damon." Damon stared at her for a moment. "Don't compel me. I want to remember this."

"Why?"

"Because whoever this guy was tonight, he's coming back for more!" Her voice was so loud, it almost made me flinch. Damon remained still. "And, Damon, if something happens to me, I don't want to go down without knowing how you feel."

Damon was quiet for a moment before he leaned forward, pressing his lips to her forehead. Though she didn't see it – I did. Damon slipped the necklace onto my clone's neck as she closed her eyes, embracing the light, warm kiss on her forehead.

When he pulled away, he leaned against her forehead and looked at her. I felt it hard for me to force down a swallow. I was choking up. "I love you," he repeated.

"I know."

Again, the dream ended, but this time, I was used to it, so I just inhaled when it was over, getting all the breath that I could before I waited the next one coming.

* * *

Though it took a little longer, I eventually saw the image fade in before me, and it started as a sleeping clone of myself in bed with Damon, her head on his shoulder.

It was barely seconds before my other version woke up, slowly recognizing Damon's presence. He looked down at her with a smile, and I couldn't help but smile as well. I sat down at the foot of the bed, watching slowly as the scene unfolded.

"Good morning," Damon whispered to the other Madeline. She smiled at him as I did.

"Good morning." They leaned towards each other and kissed, smiling wide. I thought for a moment. When was this? This couldn't have been after he said he loved me or before he fed me his blood brutally. This had to be after that. After him dying, perhaps? That probably sounded right.

It was a while before they broke apart, and I barely realized that Damon's shirt was off and lying on the floor. Had we…?

"You are one evil little vixen, you know that?" Damon said while smiling and turning to her in the bed. "You keep me in this bed and expect me not to go further than a couple of stolen kisses with you?"

The other Madeline laughed and looked up at the ceiling. "Good things come to those who wait, Damon."

"I always hated that expression," he said with a small pout. "You know I'm impatient." Damon paused. "Come on, Mads, why won't you sleep with me?" Damon smiled widely. "I _swear _it'll be worth your while."

The other version of me laughed, and I could tell that it was awkwardly. "Is that your line with all the girls?"

"Only you," he countered. She smiled and hummed under her breath before turning to Damon.

"I doubt that."

"Is that what you're worried about?" Damon asked. "Me sleeping with someone else?" Oh, the painful irony. He did sleep with someone else – my own _sister_. "I love you."

"And I love you," she returned. "But we've already pushed our limits as far as they could go right now. Having sex won't make anything better," she pointed out.

Damon frowned. "That's because you've never had sex with me yet," he scoffed. "All the experience you've had is that _mutt _Donovan. I could show you moves you've never seen," he suggested.

The other Madeline rolled her eyes. "And what makes you think I've had sex with Matt? With any other man, really?" She turned to Damon, looking at him pointedly.

Damon narrowed his eyes and he realized. "You're a _virgin_!" he exclaimed, as if cheerful about it. She straightened in bed and shrugged.

"So?"

Damon smiled and straightened as well, his teeth wide. "Nothing."

"Come on, Damon. What is it?"

Damon shrugged while keeping that smug grin on his face. I, for one, knew I was a virgin in real life, but _here_? It seemed like all anyone did was have sex – or, at least, that was the vibe I was getting from Damon and Elena. "You've never had sex? Ever? Not even third base? Never?"

"Never," she agreed. Damon smiled. "What is it, Damon?"

"Nothing," Damon said again. "I…I just can't believe it." He blinked. "_Madeline Gilbert,_ a _pure _virgin."

An embarrassed Madeline made a sound of offense and tried to slide out of bed, but Damon pulled her back to him and secured her face onto his in a kiss. I felt my stomach flip out of control. This was way to intimate for me to be dropping in on. Oh, wait, I was her…she was me. Wait, _was _this too intimate for me to be dropping in on?

Either way, I couldn't get out of it.

Damon pulled away and leaned against the other Madeline's head. "If you want…" Damon said, toying with the straps on her pajama top. "I can fix that for you."

I saw a flicker of lust and desire in my other set of eyes, but then the girl before me shook her head, as if telling herself "NO" while slapping her hand. Why didn't I go for it? It was…Damon, after all. And, from what I could tell, they were together, anyway. Even _I _knew that I wasn't going to wait until marriage to have sex. It was pointless.

"Nice try," she whispered at Damon before giving him a peck on the lips and getting out of bed without him. "I'll meet you at the Grill!" the copy of me called out before heading into the bathroom, and I saw Damon sigh and lean back against the headboard of the bed, blissfully happy.

What happened to that?

* * *

When was this going to end? All of these conscious memories? I was tired of them already. How many had their been? Six? No, five. I sighed. I lost count.

I walked downstairs to get a change of scenery, and when I walked into the living room, that's when the scene changed, and I braced myself for the next memory.

"Madeline."

I was in a dress – a ball gown. _Another _damn ball gown? "Damon," she said, spinning around to face him.

"Did you get what you wanted?"

"Yes, actually, I did."

"Good." Damon gripped her arm. "Because I'm your ride home. We're leaving." He tried to pull her inconspicuously, but my clone put up a fight with me.

"No, Damon, stop it!" she said through her teeth. Damon exhaled frustratedly, looked somewhere else to calm his anger down, and then looked down at Madeline Gilbert 2.0. With a swallow, she continued. "Look, I'm _sorry _that we had to cut you out of the plan. It was Elena's plan, but I went along with it, and it was _good_," the other girl tried.

"There shouldn't have been a plan in the first place!" Damon yelled. "You shouldn't _be _here," he snapped.

"Yeah, well, I am!" With a sigh, the other Madeline hung her head and looked back up at Damon. "Damon, I don't like going behind your back. I never did and I especially don't like it now." She paused. "But if Elena hadn't asked Stefan to help us, you would've ruined everything."

"I'm sorry for trying to keep you alive," he snarled sarcastically. "_Clearly, _neither Stefan nor Elena don't give a crap anymore."

"So now you're mad at me for including them?"

"Oh, Jesus, Madeline!" Damon shouted, though his voice was low. "No! I'm mad at you because I _love _you."

"Maybe you should stop and realize that _that _is the problem here!" she shouted back, but as soon as the other version of myself said the words, I could tell that she instantly regretted it. "Damon—"

Damon laughed. "Oh, no, I get it, Madeline," he began. "I care too much," Damon spat. "I'm a liability." The other Madeline sighed. I just stood there, watching. Why didn't I say anything? "How ironic is that?" he mumbled.

But before either of them could say anything, I saw Caroline come up to them. "Have you guys seen Matt?"

And that's when it ended. When I thought that it was just a matter of minutes until I finally was pulled into another conscious memory, I felt my body tingling, and there was a voice in my head.

_"Madeline!" _

* * *

"Madeline!" I woke with a start, shooting up inside of my bed to meet Damon's gaze, looking at me worriedly. "Madeline, are you okay?"

I looked up at Damon, running a hand through my hair. "Huh?"

"Are you okay?" he asked again, looking at me. Damon knelt down next to me to try and get comfortable while he spoke. "Didn't you wake up at all while we were gone?" he asked.

"I…I don't know," I admitted. I paused. "I…_thought _I did."

Damon tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

I was about to open my mouth and tell him, but I realized who I was talking to. Although I was awake and in this third layer of my dream, Damon didn't know about me not remembering, and I wouldn't be the one to tell him – at least, not right now. _Especially _after what I'd just seen.

"Nothing," I said after a while. "Weird dream, I…" I trailed off. "How long have I been out?"

"Almost a day," Damon answered. "You haven't moved an inch, I…I thought you were gone."

I avoided all gaze with him. I couldn't handle it – not after what I'd seen. Not after what I'd experience.

But he began before I could move on. "Madeline, look at me."

"No," I said under my breath, but he kept his gaze on me, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I broke.

"Look at me," he whispered again, and I couldn't help it. I moved my head slightly to remove the curtain of hair that separated us, only to melt when I saw him. Damn. Why did I have to be so stupid? Why couldn't I just take what I wanted. "There's something I need to tell you."

After he told me, I couldn't say that I was sad – but for some odd reason, I knew that he was. Just the look in his eyes gave me that impression…it was exactly how he looked at me when I told him that loving me was our biggest problem. He was hurting. Over Bonnie?

And when he pulled me into an embrace – to try and comfort me, I suppose, I took the only chance I had. The largest part of me felt for him in ways that I've never felt for anyone in my entire life.

And he was with someone else – my sister.

And _that _was the reason that one sole tear drifted down my face and onto his shirt. I wanted to feel sorry for the person that was dead – I did. But I had no idea who anyone is in this dream world. I was lost.

And that was the reason that the second tear fell, and I clutched Damon harder I my arms.

I had no one. I was alone to face my fears and to face this reality. Audrey was nowhere to be seen, my sister happened to earn my distrust, Caroline would tell the first person she saw, Damon was going to get upset at me and go on a hero rampage if I told him, which made me completely and utterly alone.

* * *

It was the next day when the memorial for our dear friend was being held and, even though I had no clue who she was, I felt like I owed it to everyone to be there. Not for myself, but for moral support. I wasn't apart of this world. I didn't belong here. But that didn't mean I couldn't help these people – whoever they were. Figments of my imagination or not.

The only thing that I had gathered about the younger Salvatore was that he had lost his memory of everyone in this town.

Including me.

Which made me feel like we had something in common.

"Stefan?" I asked, going into the place that they were supposedly keeping Stefan, according to Damon. I had asked so that I could speak to him, but the real reason was that I wanted to confide. Stefan turned around and saw me, his expression changing when he saw me in the black funeral dress that I was wearing. I left my hair down, that one blue streak glimmering in the light. I hated it. I hated it so much. "You don't…remember me, do you?"

"I know your face," Stefan admitted. "You're Madeline, right? Elena's sister." I nodded at him. "But, I am sorry, I don't remember you."

I shrugged. "It's okay," I said with a sigh. "Because neither do I."

After I finished confiding my story to Stefan, he sat down on the bench in the place that he was staying.

"So you're from…another realm?" he asked, sitting down, as if he was going to fall.

I nodded. "I…think so, I guess," I admitted, sitting down beside of him. "I don't know anymore, I'm…I'm so confused." I sighed. "And, well, I can't tell Elena, I can't tell Caroline, I can't find my best friend, and I _definitely _can't tell Damon."

"Why not?"

I shrugged. "Because I love him," I said slowly, realizing it just as I said it. Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. But this version of me did – this heart of mine that I was living with right now. "These memories…I don't know. Maybe I wouldn't if I didn't have these memories."

Stefan was silent for a while. "I don't mean to be rude but…_why _are you telling me this, again?" he asked.

I let out a deep breath. "Well, apparently, we were friends in our past lives," I joked lightly. Stefan just gave a slight smile. "And…I figured…well, who better to confide in than someone who doesn't know what the hell is going on himself?"

"You should talk to Damon about it," Stefan suggested. "He can help. I think, anyways." He sighed.

I shook my head. "If I talk to Damon about what's going on, chances are, he'd never believe me or he'd get angry about it." I paused. "And, based on what I've seen, I think he'd get angry about it. Start seeking answers," I explained. Stefan nodded slightly. "But the worst part of it is, he'd try to make me remember."

"You don't want to?" Stefan pushed.

"I don't seem to have a choice," I countered. Stefan raised his eyebrows and I turned my head to him. "I've been having…dreams. Memories of my time here. Most of them are with Damon, I just don't know why. But I don't want to remember because from what I've heard? The memories are terrible."

"Worse than getting dumped by the love of your life so she could be with your brother? And then she just…_happens _to flirt with you for a while until you realize that she's with your brother now?" Stefan proposed.

"I don't know," I countered with a sharp inhale. "What about how, _apparently, _you were madly in love with a vampire and – surprisingly – he loved you back, but you kept thinking that he was in love with your sister? And then, _while you're still together, _he cheats on you with her and you end up leaving for three months to come back with no memory but just a _feeling _that you can't stand the sight of it? And that _every _day you just want to cry because of it?"

Stefan paused. "You win," he said after a while, giving me a light smile. I returned it, but then looked at him for a moment.

"You won't tell anyone?" I pressured.

Stefan shook his head. "Secret's safe with me," he promised. I got up from the bench and extended my hand, and Stefan took it to get up from the bench. He held my hand for an extra moment, but then someone else walked in.

"Damon," I let out when I saw him. Damon stared at Stefan's interlocking hand with mine, and I slowly pulled away. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Damon said, clearing his throat. "We're…about to start. Figured you should be there." Damon took something out from behind his back. It was…a teddy bear.

And, suddenly, for the first time, I had a memory that was _not _about Damon. I could see it – right in front of me – a teddy bear. The one that Bonnie Bennett and I had shared since we were six years old. We bought it in a toy store, but there was only one left, so we decided that each of us would keep it until the first of the year, where we would switch.

I remembered it.

"Madeline?" Damon whispered. I snapped out of the memory quickly to face his eyes, my eyes filling with tears. Why was I crying? I didn't know her, but I felt her. I felt all of the sorrow, the happiness, and the pain that revolved around that teddy bear. It might've been stupid, but it was true.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," I said after a while. I looked up at Stefan, who was staring down at me in concern. "I'm fine," I whispered before walking towards Damon, holding the teddy bear in his hands. I looked down at it for a moment, and I suddenly felt Damon's arm around me, helping me towards where I needed to go. All I did was stare at the bear in my hands.

How was this even possible? How were such strong emotions coming from these memories? It made me wonder – did they even happen?

We walked with the rest of the group – Caroline, Elena, Damon, and a blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy, who I hadn't seen before – to where the quiet, secret memorial for our friend was being held. Jeremy went first, placing a picture frame on the tree. It was a picture of him and Bonnie. Normally, I would ask questions, but I didn't feel like it right now.

I felt sad – for someone I didn't know. How was that even remotely possible?

Caroline went up slowly and placed a black and red pom-pom on the tree. She then turned away, trying to hold it together. It was then the blonde boy's turn, and he pulled out a whistle. I didn't know what it stood for, but it must've been important to him. I held the bear in my hands, and for some reason, I didn't want to give it up. I wanted to know more about it – about my relationship with all of these people.

This life was so difficult.

Elena then went, stumbling over everything, trying to remain calm. But she was the weakest of us all, and she broke down. She laid feathers across that tree, and then turned away quickly, rushing to Caroline, who was also holding Matt's hand. The three of them basked in moral support. I looked at Damon, who nodded to me slowly, and I nodded back. I went up to the tree and put down the bear, hating to part with it – and her, for some reason. I didn't cry – I couldn't cry.

But I felt it inside, glowing like a dim light. I wasn't going to survive if I remembered everything. I wasn't going to survive anything.

For some reason, everyone was right. I was a broken toy – I was a fragile piece of glass. I would be broken at some point.

Damon left my side and put something on the tree – a book. He patted it twice and turned to me. When he returned, Elena and Caroline were still hugging, and in a bold and _surprising _move, he locked his hand in mine.

I wanted to pull away – I think I should've.

But I couldn't.

Jeremy stepped forward and grabbed a bell. "We ring this bell in honor of Bonnie. In remembrance for her." He did nothing more but ring the bell, and it was enough. But, then, he surprised all of us. "I'm not sure what else to say."

He was silent for the longest time before he looked at Elena. "She says that she's not going anywhere. That she has been here all along. Bonnie has watched you have the summer of your life. She saw you happy. And she knows you think now that you can't have a normal life – that you have to be here for everyone, but you don't. Everyone will find their way. So you are going to repack your things, you're going to go back to college, and you're gonna live it up." Jeremy's eyes moved to Matt. "You didn't do anything wrong, Matt. You know, she would've sent you three hundred emails back if she could. She misses you" Jeremy moved his eyes to Caroline. "Caroline, she watched you decorate that dorm room like your life depended on it." Caroline laughed so hard that she began to cry, and I saw the reflection of pain in her eyes. "And she knows that college isn't everything you expected and that you feel like something's missing, but..." Jeremy trailed off and looked behind Caroline. "Tyler."

I turned around, as did Damon, and we saw a dark-haired man in a dark tux walk up to her, and they hugged for a moment. Tyler put a white rose down on the tree with Caroline by his side.

"Madeline," Jeremy said at last, flickering his eyes to me. I swallowed. "Bonnie knows that you've been through the roughest times of us all – but she wants you to know that you're going to get better." I barely caught it, but his eyes looked at Damon. "You will find a way to make it better."

Damon's grip tightened on mine, and I couldn't find the will to stop it. I should've – I should've ripped my hand right out of his.

But I loved him. And, even though it was wrong to love someone that you met a week ago, it was true.

So when – even with my sister by his side – he pulled me into his arms, I didn't object to it, and I cried. It might've made me a terrible person to stand there and cry into my ex-boyfriend's shoulder and admit that I loved him to his brother, but I didn't care. After the memories I had today? I was only afraid to tell him how I felt; for I feared that he wouldn't choose me if I gave him the chance. But I wasn't afraid to admit it. I wasn't afraid to cry.

Only, this time? This time I wasn't crying for him, at least. I was crying for Bonnie. Because, like Damon, I didn't know her.

But I loved her.

* * *

**I'm still not happy with how I'm handling Madeline and Damon's relationship, but it'll have to do for now. Next episode is Monster's Ball. Eh, it was an okay episode. MY FAVORITE WAS 5X10 BY FAR. I'm sorry I'm just so happy. Damon shoved it up Elena's ass I was so happy. **

**I'm sorry. I'm just REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY happy. **

**Okay I'm done now. **

**Tell me what you thought of the chapter. Sorry if you hated it, I do that a lot. **

**Anyways...more ASAP. I'll try not to make it as long of a wait this time. **

_**Love, **_

**_BellaSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**


	5. Monster's Ball

**I don't know about you, but I'm just so damn ecstatic about that break up. Like, I literally cannot get over it. I'm just so happy. We all know Elena the Bitch is going to try and get Damon back, but he's not going to take her back. Why? ****Because he's in love with me. **

**No, JK, not really. It's _really _because Damon knows that she's the ice bitch and she's just going to keep trying to change him and he doesn't want that to happen. **

**But, anyways, I'm just super duper happy. Like, over the moon happy. I can't even express it, God. **

**Enjoy the chapter, everybody! I was actually going to make them kiss at the end, but...well, sorry, that doesn't happen. I thought I would torture everyone for the next couple chapters. **

**So, I know everyone wants a Stefan/Madeline relationship...sorry, but that can't happen. I always feel so uncomfortable writing kissing scenes with Stefan and my OCs...it's not because he's not hot (because, believe me, he is), but I just don't do that sort of thing with Stefan. I Can Never Love Again was the only exception and I actually hate myself for it. Like, a lot. I mean, I don't ship Stelena or anything, I just don't like going into a romantic relationship with the main OC and Stefan. It's okay for the second OC to go with him, but not the main one. If you haven't noticed, the main OC is almost always with Damon. Because I love him. Because he loves me. **

**Yeah, I wish. But do you ever find yourself really just wanting to make out with him? Oops, sorry, maybe that was just a little too much information...**

**Moving on. No Stefan/Madeline, but I didn't say anything about Wes/Madeline or Enzo/Madeline. Now those are two characters that I'm willing to work with.**

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1 please :) **

* * *

**Monster's Ball**

Four days.

_Four _days.

_Four. Fucking. Days. _

I had given up. There was no hope of my return to the normal world – unless this was some long ass dream that I had been cursed in, I was not returning to the normal world anytime soon.

It had been four days since the outbreak of Bonnie's death, and Elena and I returned to college as if nothing was wrong. I saw Stefan whenever I could, but there was nothing much to tell him about. Elena was avoiding Damon and so was I, though I had a reason to.

Ever since the funeral, I realized that it wasn't my place to get in between my sister and her boyfriend. Sure, I hated her for doing what she did to me, and she deserved all hell broken loose on her. But what about me? _My _feelings? I wasn't going to let myself get wallowed up in misery over some _guy_. I was never one to do that. I had to move on – I had to get over it.

So, I stayed away, despite my own feelings.

It didn't matter. Stefan kept me company for the most part. I brought him blood, we conversed. Typical friend things. I tried to go to him whenever I got the chance, seeing that Tyler was back and Caroline was going crazy with him in our dorm room. Elena was all depressed and mopey, and I just wanted to fast forward to the part where I woke up and I wasn't in this place anymore.

But as it looked? I was stuck here. For_ever_.

But I've adopted a distraction when I couldn't be with Stefan to distract me from going insane in this hellhole.

Doctor Maxfield.

I had to admit, Elena was going down the right path when she discussed how Maxfield was incredibly hot. I couldn't deny it.

So, when he came up to me, I didn't push him away.

"Madeline," he said, smiling. "Welcome back."

"Thanks."

He nodded. "Are you going to the costume ball tonight?" Wes asked me. I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Costume ball?" I asked, thinking it over. I snapped my fingers once I remembered. "Oh, right. Yeah, I am. Caroline's in charge of costumes," I said sadly. Knowing her? She would dress me up as Queen Victoria or something tacky like that.

"Great." He added another smile and I smiled back at him. "I'll—"

When my phone buzzed in my pocket, I held up a finger at the biology teacher. "Just…give me a second," I said, pulling out my phone and letting out a big sigh. When I saw it was Damon, I inhaled once before hitting the decline button and slipping it back into my pocket. "You were saying?"

"He was saying that he needed to leave," someone said, bumping my shoulder and interrupting my conversation with Wes. I looked over to see Damon, who was smiling angrily at Wes. Wes looked at me for a moment.

"I'll see you tonight, Madeline," Wes began. I nodded and he walked away, and Damon stepped in front of me.

I crossed my arms. "Do you absolutely _have _to ruin every moment I have with him?"

"He's a teacher, Madeline. _So _not your territory."

"He's not _my _teacher, Damon," I countered, huffing. "It's completely legal."

"Legality isn't the issue, Madeline, it's _morality_," Damon countered, all-knowing.

I frowned at him. "Does it _really _look like I care about morality right now?" I offered before trying to brush past him and leave. But before I could get far enough, Damon caught my arm and forced me to turn around.

"What's your deal?" Damon asked blatantly, staring me right in the eyes. "You've been avoiding me ever since you came back here."

I shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Damon grimaced. "I've been calling and texting you for three days."

"I had schoolwork to finish. Honors classes aren't going to pass themselves."

"I just called you and you _just _declined."

"I was talking to Wes!"

Damon rolled his eyes. "So, it's _Wes _now, isn't it?" he proposed. I crossed my arms over my chest and shot him a glare. "Oh, Madeline, I know your crush look, you like him." Damon took a moment of hesitation before looking at the sky and then looking back down at me. "I don't like it."

"You don't have to." I stared at him for the longest time, and everything was silent before I ran a hand through my hair and looked at him, frustrated. "What do you want, Damon?" I asked. I admit, I was giving mixed signals, but it didn't mean that he had to drop by every time I didn't call him.

Sure, I loved Damon – I could admit that much. But in order for me to get over it and let him have a chance with my sister—though I didn't want him to—I had to try and move on.

Damon sighed. "Audrey's been asking about where Stefan is," he admitted.

I blinked. Audrey was still here, too? Why hadn't I seen her? I decided to answer's Damon question before he grew suspicious. With a shrug, I spoke, "So? Tell her where he is, I don't care." I turned away, but Damon grabbed my arm again.

"You sure that's such a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"He doesn't remember her."

I shrugged again. "He doesn't remember anyone," I pointed out.

"He broke up with her _right _before he went to go dump Silas, in the quarry, but ended up getting dumped in it himself," Damon hissed at me. Stefan and Audrey were together? Since when? "What if she decides that she's going to take advantage of the situation, you know? Trick him into thinking that they're together."

I wish I could tell Damon that he shouldn't worry about it, but I knew Audrey, and she would do that sort of thing – as bad as it sounded. Stefan was pretty handsome; not to mention the fact that she acknowledged his beauty even _before _we came into the town.

I sighed heavily. "I'll talk to her," I promised, turning away again. Damon didn't stop me this time, but he did call out to me.

"Where are you going?" he shouted.

I turned around at him. "To class," I said, throwing my hands up in the air before turning back around and pulling out my phone on my way to my next class. I dialed Audrey's number and the line rang twice before it answered.

_"Hey, Madeline," _Audrey said on the other side of the line. _"Damon come and talk to you?"_

"How did you know?" I asked, confused. Was she a psychic in this supernatural world?

_"He told me that he needed to talk to you before he told me where Stefan was," _she explained. _"So…where's Stefan?"_ Audrey asked.

I let out a sigh. "Do you…remember?" I questioned, cautious. "Everything about these lives we're living?"

_"Yeah,"_ Audrey said, like I should know it. "_I got my memories back the night after I called you. All of them. I remember…everything,"_ she admitted. _"Don't you?"_

"No," I said after a while, bewildered out of my mind. "I…I don't. I mean, I've been having memories once in a while but…other than that, no. Not really." I let out a long sigh. Why was _I _the one to get stuck with the amnesiac brain forever?

_"That's…weird," _Audrey admitted slowly, trying to figure out what to say. I nodded, although she couldn't see me. With a sigh, I continued.

"Okay," I began. "I'll tell you where Stefan is, but you have to promise me something."

_"What?" _

"You _can't _use his condition to trick him into loving you again," I told her firmly. "Damon said something about you two breaking up before the summer began. He's worried that you're going to use his amnesia to be with him again."

Audrey scoffed. _"Damon thinks that I'm going to trick Stefan into loving me?" _she challenged. _"That's a Katherine move, not an Audrey move," _she said pointedly_._

"Just…promise me, okay?" I asked her. What she knew about Katherine – I didn't know, but I didn't really want to find out.

_"All right, all right, I promise. Of course_." I let out a deep sigh and told her where Stefan was, deciding to take the risk to trust her.

I really hoped the risk turned out to be fake. That this would be worth my while.

But with Audrey? Well, you never knew.

After classes, I went back to the dorm room to finish off the little bit of work that I had before the dance tonight. But as I worked, a box dropped from the air onto the desk in the corner of the room that was mine. I looked up at it, seeing as it covered up all of the work that I was trying to finish. Caroline looked at down at me with a wide smile.

"What is this?" I asked her, standing up and opening the box.

"Your costume," Caroline said simply. "I gave everyone their costumes this year – I even brought Stefan and Audrey one."

Once I heard it, I stilled my hands. "Stefan and Audrey are going to the costume ball together?" I asked. "Why?"

Caroline shrugged. "Before I went to drop off the costume for Stefan, he asked me if he could make a last minute change. He invited Audrey to the ball." I blinked at her and she opened her mouth again. "Not as a girlfriend or anything, I thought the same thing. I mean, I wouldn't put it below my sister to trick Stefan to be back with her again."

I felt my heart settle in my chest. If Damon had figured out that I let Audrey trick Stefan into loving him again, he'd probably hate me. "So why did he invite her?" I asked.

"He wanted to," Caroline said, shrugging. "I guess, even as an amnesiac, he wants to be with her." She smiled. "Good for them, right?"

I let out a small smile. "Good for them," I agreed. When I sighed, I cleared my throat and looked into the box, frowning at the old-fashioned gown that I saw tucked inside of it. "What is this?" I asked, holding it up for me to see. There were other accessories inside of the box, but I only pulled out the dress. Caroline smiled widely.

"You're Catherine of Argon!" she said, excited. I knew who it was, but I stared at her anyway. "You know, King Henry VIII's very first wife? He cheated on her with Anne Boleyn and—"

"I know who Catherine of Argon is, Caroline, I just don't know why you picked me to be her," I said to the blonde, who let her smile drop a fraction of an inch.

"Well, if you don't like it, I mean…I can take it back or something, we still have time to find you something else." I hurt her feelings. Great. Now I felt like a terrible person. I let out a deep sigh and held up the dress to my body.

"No, Caroline, it's fine," I reassured her, trying to make her feel better. "It's nice, I like it." I gave her a smile and Caroline gave me one back.

"I know you hate it, but I appreciate the effort, Madeline."

"No problem." I gave her a smile and she just laughed before shaking her head and walking off to the other part of the room so I could finish the work that I needed to complete.

* * *

I walked into the crowded house, full of too many historical figures to name. I felt so uncomfortable, being in one of these big, fancy parties. Is that what they did for fun around here? Dress up every day and pretend like there wasn't a care in the world when…really, there was a vampire apocalypse upon us?

Yeah, it sounded like these people.

"Hey!" Stefan exclaimed, seeing me descend the stairs. "Who the _hell _are you supposed to be?" he slurred.

"Catherine of Argon." I raised an eyebrow at him in his leather jacket and white t-shirt. I thought Caroline had gotten him a costume. "You?"

"James Dean." He gave me a teeth-sparkling smile. "Audrey came as Audrey Hepburn, ironic enough." I laughed at him.

"You're _drunk_," I accused him, singing the statement lightly. Stefan shrugged.

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not." Stefan held out his hand. "You should dance with me, anyways."

"I thought you were here with my best friend's sister?" I proposed, but I took his hand with as much grace as I could accomplish. Stefan nodded.

"I am," he admitted. "But she went somewhere else for a little bit. College is probably overwhelming to her," Stefan tried as he pulled me under his hand and brought me to him so that we could begin to dance. "Where's my brother? Aren't you here with him?" Stefan asked.

I let out a light laugh. "Yeah, right." I laughed again. "Like he would come with me instead of Elena. That makes sense," I said sarcastically.

"Oh, right, Elena," Stefan said, swaying us back and forth. "I forgot." He paused. "Well, I didn't forget that he was with _her, _but I forgot that you weren't with him anymore," Stefan explained. Yeah, he was definitely drunk.

"Maybe you should take it easy, there, big shot," I suggested, giving him a smile. "Seems like you don't have one of those high vampire tolerances."

Stefan laughed whole-heartedly. "Are you kidding me?" he said, spinning me around under his hand and pulling me back to him, where he dipped me once and brought me back up with a smile on his face. "I've never felt better." He spun me out, but I didn't return to him. Instead, my body bumped into someone else's, and I was whisked away further from Stefan Salvatore.

Only to face Damon Salvatore in my arms. I groaned. "Okay, I'm done now," I said, refusing to move, but Damon pulled me with him, not caring that I wasn't going to dance.

"You're so mean to me, Madeline," he said, giving me a light smile. I tilted my head at him once and prepared to argue, but I looked down at his costume and broke us apart.

"Who the hell are _you _supposed to be?" I asked him in disbelief.

Damon let a sly smile onto his lips. "Henry VIII," he responded. I choked on my own mouth fluids.

"W-What?"

Damon made a noise before pulling me back to him and dancing with me again – and, seeing as I was a human, I had no choice. "Mm-hm. And you, are my wife, and I'm ordering you to dance."

"Ex-wife." I gave him a bitter smile. "Who'd Elena come as?" I asked him, and he just smiled at me, and I realized. "I'm going to _kill _Caroline Forbes!" I snapped. Did she _really _come as Anne Boleyn? She couldn't have, could she?

"Oh, don't get all testy on me now."

"You do realize that Henry cheated on Catherine with Anne?" I countered. Damon shrugged.

"He also chopped off Anne's head but only sent Catherine away to a convent."

"That's not making it better."

"You're right, it's not," Damon said simply. I tilted my head at him.

"What's your angle, Damon?" I challenged him, narrowing my eyes. He raised his eyebrows. "You've been trying to call me all week, you showed up and ruined my conversation with Wes…" I trailed off. "What are you trying to accomplish, here?"

Damon squared his jaw at me and inhaled. "_I'm _curious," he said, countering me. I rolled my eyes and looked elsewhere for a moment. "Why are _you _avoiding me. Ever since the funeral you've been so angry with me. Why? Is it because I was there for you when your little professor boyfriend wasn't or…?"

"You don't have even a _shred _of a right to be jealous, Damon," I snapped, looking back to him. He said nothing. "And I'm avoiding you because I'm trying to give you space. We shouldn't be doing this. We should be moving on, you know."

Damon shrugged. "I'm selfish, you knew that already."

I tried to push myself away – seeing as I was done with the conversation at hand. Instead, Damon sighed and kept his grip tight on me.

"Let go of me," I growled through my teeth. Damon sighed and looked around the room, but when he spotted something, he looked back at me and smiled, releasing my hands.

"Wish granted," he said underneath his breath before walking off. I just stared after him, confused.

My head hurt. I might've been giving Damon mixed signals, but he was just giving me whiplash.

I walked up to the bar to get a drink, when I saw the witch, Qetsiyah…Tessa…whatever she wanted to be called. Getting a drink slipped my mind when I realized that threw as something I was dying to ask her.

"You," I said, pointing my finger at her as I walked up. She looked beside her to see me and only smiled. "What did you do to me?" I asked.

"I used your blood as activation for my spell." Tessa shrugged. "You're a Pure Blood."

I raised my eyebrows for a moment. "Pure Blood?" I repeated, confused.

"Yes," she said, as if I should know it already. "You've been to another realm, you've never had sex—"

"How the hell do you know that I haven't had sex?" I asked her, cutting her off and not feeling sorry _once _for doing so. Tessa just laughed.

"You're a Pure Blood," she said, again like I should be aware of what the hell she was talking about. "I wouldn't have used you for my spell if you weren't one." Tessa scoffed.

I shook my head, deciding not to get into it right now. That wasn't what I was going to ask her. "You gave me those memories," I snapped. "Those memory…dream-things. Whatever they were."

Tessa shrugged. "Okay, I'll admit to that." She sighed. "I figured that I could push your memory into the right direction. Get you to remember again."

I stared at her for a moment. "You know?" I said, stiffening.

Tessa laughed. "What, that you've been in another realm for the last three months?" I flinched at her laugh. "Madeline, you're a Pure Blood. By definition, that means you've been to another realm and back."

"I still have _no _idea what the hell you're rambling about!" I said, frowning at her, slightly angry. "Are you going to give my memories back or not?" I demanded.

"Not." Tessa shrugged and took a sip out of her drink. "In order for your mind to make the connection, you'd have to die again."

"But than I'd be out for another day and a half," I countered.

Tessa shook her head. "No," she retorted. "You see, it doesn't work like that." She sighed and turned to me as if launching into a long story. "I didn't really do anything to activate those memories. In fact, I didn't really need to use you as the activation for my spell, but I figured that I could kill two bird in one stone, as they say," Tessa explained. I listened, though I wasn't quite sure what I was hearing. "Your mind is the one that decides what memories to show you, _if _they'll show them to you. Dying isn't a guarantee that you will remember."

"But I don't _want _to remember," I countered, proving a point. "I want to go back to my damn _life_!"

Tessa laughed again, this time sharper and throatier than before. I stared at her and waited as she kept laughing, but didn't cease.

"Don't you understand?" she said through laughs, dialing down at the end of her question. "This _is _your life."

* * *

"Hey, Audrey," I said, walking up to my friend at the buffet table. Audrey turned around, smiling at me. She was dressed as Stefan said she was – Audrey Hepburn – with a big bun on top of her head and a straight black dress with pearls accenting the costume.

I wasn't very happy about what happened with Tessa back at the bar, but when Stefan interrupted us, I knew that there was no more hope of her turning her attention back to me. What did she mean that this was my life? This was _definitely _not my life.

Maybe there was no hope for me.

"Hey," Audrey greeted back. "Where's your date?" Audrey grinned.

"I didn't come with a date," I said simply. She raised her eyebrows at me.

"You mean…Damon didn't break up with Elena yet for you?" Audrey smiled and I shot her a glare.

"Not funny."

Audrey shrugged again. "Worth a shot," she admitted. "So you didn't come with a date?" Audrey continued, planting a square of cantaloupe in her mouth from a toothpick.

I sighed. "Nope," I said sadly. "I mean, not that I wanted to go with anyone, anyways. I _thought _I could go with this one guy but _Damon _had to ruin it for me." I groaned. I really did like Doctor Maxfield. Unlike Damon, he was sweet and…kind and…sure, he lied about Meghan's death certificate, but we all tell lies once in a while. Plus, if he announced that a vampire killed our roommate, I'm pretty sure the world would go into a frenzy.

"What a buzz kill," someone said behind me, making me jump as I turned around to see Wes standing in front of me with a smile. I felt like slapping myself out of idiocy. "Sounds like a real great boyfriend, this..._Damon_." He smiled.

"Wes," I said, clearing my throat. "Damon's...not my boyfriend. I mean, he used to be but…uh…" I turned around at Audrey, who had apparently slipped out while Wes was talking. I sighed and turned back to Wes, giving a nervous laugh. "He's my ex, I guess."

"You…guess?"

"Yeah," I said with a sigh. "Things are complicated." I shrugged. "Doesn't change the fact that I was hoping to go with _you _tonight." He raised his eyebrows. "Unless that's inappropriate or something…"

Wes shrugged. "Well, I would've liked for you to be my student, but I guess you don't _have _to," he admitted with a smile and held out his hand. "Dance with me?"

"Sure," I agreed, smiling at him as well. God, everyone just wanted to dance with me. Why? I had no idea. On a scale of one to ten – how bad was my dancing? Eleven and a half. When he pulled me to him, we were standing close together, and I only smiled. This was nice. This was fun.

Unlike when I share even a single moment with Damon, which was filled with so much heartbreak and misery. "So who are you supposed to be going as?" I asked, slightly laughing.

"Doctor Jekyll," Wes said, faking offense.

I nodded. "And Mr. Hyde is…?" I prompted.

Wes took in a breath. "I'm…_not _responsible for my darker half," he responded. I grinned. "You?"

I sighed. "Catherine of Argon," I said glumly. "Though my sister came as Anne Boleyn and her boyfriend, my ex, came as Henry VIII."

"Your younger sister is dating your ex-boyfriend?" Wes asked, widening his eyes. I nodded. He whistled in surprise. "Well, you weren't lying when you said it was complicated."

"No, I wasn't." I exhaled.

"But your ex-boyfriend's still in love with you?" Wes pushed. I blinked at him.

"What would make you say that?"

"Oh, come on," Wes scoffed. "The way he interrupted us this morning? The look he gave me? I would've done the same thing if I were in his place," he admitted.

I rolled my eyes. "But that's Damon, he's just an ass," I countered. "He's not in love with me, he's trying to make himself feel better."

"You have your perception of it, I have mine," Wes retorted. "So, are you going to stay here this time around or are you going to take off with your sister again and disappear for a few days?"

I laughed for a moment. "No, I think I'm here for good this time." I waited for a moment to continue. "But, you know, there seems to be so much _crap _happening on back home, I'm not sure of anything anymore," I admitted.

"Hmm," Wes hummed under his breath. I waited for him to continue, but instead, he pulled me closer and swayed us while he said something in my ear. "If I were you, I would tell your sister and her vampire friends to get out of here as fast as they can and never come back."

"Excuse me?" I asked, trying to pull away from him. What the hell?

"I'm not saying that_ you_ have to leave," Wes said, pulling us in a circle. I wanted to get out, but I couldn't. Was he a vampire? No, I guess he wasn't, he was just really strong. Or maybe I was weak. "You're a human. They're not onto you. But you tell your friends to go back to Mystic Falls and never look back."

I finally found the strength to push him away from me, feeling terribly violated. I felt like shaking Wes off of me. Why did I always fall for jackasses?

Before I could say anything, Wes just smiled at me and turned on his heel, not giving me the chance to voice my opinion on his threat.

And as a champagne tray went by me, I grabbed a glass from it and downed the champagne in the crystal, not minding all the adults around me.

Twenty minutes later, when the party began to die down and I was looking around for Elena to tell her that I was leaving, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me somewhere.

"Let's go," Damon whispered in my ear. I sighed and didn't even protest it. Everyone was manhandling me today. But what could I do? I was a human – a weak one, at that.

"What happened?" I asked, sensing that something was wrong.

"Silas happened," Damon explained. "I was working with him to bring back Bonnie, Tessa got angry, and now Silas is dead and we need him to bring the witch back."

"And I'm needed in this…why?"

Damon shrugged. "Why do you have to be needed in it?"

I jerked my arm away from him, pulling us to a stop in front of the door. He sighed and turned around at me. "I don't want to leave, Damon, I like it here."

Damon groaned. "Why?" he challenged. "Because of your professor boyfriend or my brother?"

I don't know what came over me, but Damon had no right to treat me this way. I was done with everyone treating me like they could boss me around in this world. Wes, Damon, Tessa. All of them.

I was tired of it.

So, I took my hand and I raised it to slap Damon straight across the face, and he didn't see it coming. I felt like my hand was on fire, but seeing Damon slowly recover from my weak blow made the pain worth it. Damon turned back at me, his jaw square.

"You good now?" Damon challenged through his teeth. I suddenly felt very afraid of him. He took one step forward, but I didn't move for my life. "You happy now? You _finally _got to do what you've been waiting to do for _months_." He was inches away from my face, but I couldn't pull away from him. If I moved, he would do something drastic, I knew it. "Feel better?"

"I didn't slap you because you slept with my sister, I slapped you because you're being a jackass," I snapped at him, not breaking under his gaze. "Not that you didn't deserve it, Damon, because you're _damn _right it felt good," I hissed. "But you need to stop pretending like your infidelity with her is all I care about, because it's _not_." I swallowed and he said nothing to me. "I'm moving on, and you should, too."

I stared at Damon for another moment, and I could see his eyes harden, though I was sure he wasn't going to do anything if I left.

So I did, without looking back once. I meant every word I said; I needed to move on, and so did he.

For the sake of both of us.

* * *

**Yeah, that part at the end where she slaps him? I was going to have them kiss as she tries to leave. **

**Instead, I screwed you all over; you're welcome :P **

**Okay! That concludes this chapter! So, if you'd do me a bit of a favor and go on my profile and vote on my poll that I have up there? It's to tell me what story I should update over Christmas break since I have all the time in the world :) I would appreciate it. **

**Thank you so much for the comments and follows and favorites and everything, you know you all are the best! **

_**Love, **_

_**BellaSalvatore1918**_

_**X**_


	6. Handle With Care

**Happy Christmas Eve, everyone! I hope you have a good day tomorrow if I don't get to update before then. This chapter's update was sped up by all of you voting on that poll and reviewing; thank you very, _very _much. I'm actually surprised at the success of this story, I had no idea I would continue with it. **

**So, anyways, enjoy the chapter. If you'd do me a great favor and read a story of mine, Bloodshed, if you haven't read it before, I would be so grateful. It's a season 1 story. I don't think I've mentioned it before on this story, and I'd love it so much if you would support me on that story as well. But, as always, your choice. Read...don't read...I'll still update this story, don't worry :) **

**Well, I'm a Jew but I celebrate Christmas, but I know that a lot of you out there might not. So, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS to each and every one of you! **

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1, please :) **

* * *

**Handle With Care**

I hadn't heard from or seen Damon or Elena since the costume ball.

Good. I liked it that way.

I woke up on my own time – completely waking up by myself in my new college dorm room. I had stopped caring about going home; it seemed completely helpless to keep digging for a solution that was never going to come. Right now? I was going to live a normal life away from vampires as a normal college student who had a vampire best friend and a vampire sister and a vampire ex-boyfriend.

Okay, so my life was far from normal. At least _I _was still human. Or whatever the hell a Pure Blood was…I had decided not to worry about.

I smiled to myself in my bed. Today was a good day. No sister to remind me of my failures. No ex-boyfriend to guilt me into staying with him. Only me and my best friend, at college, trying to lead an atypical life.

So, you can imagine my surprise when I sat up to see Elena tip-toeing across the floor, as if trying not to wake me up. She stiffened when she saw me.

"Elena?" I asked, confused. I felt like groaning. Why did my perfect day _have _to be ruined? "What are you doing here?"

Elena straightened and threw her hands up in the air. "I broke up with Damon," she said simply.

I tried not to shoot straight up in my bed, but I couldn't contain the sheer surprise that was escaping through my personality. _"What?" _

Elena nodded. "Yeah. He told me that he's still in love with you, so I broke up with him." Elena shrugged. I blinked at her. What? This couldn't be happening. Did I even _want _Damon back? How could this even be possible? But just as I was overthinking it, Elena began to laugh. I shot her a glare with a frown, and she spoke. "I can't believe you actually fell for that!"

I opened my mouth to ask what was going on, but I soon realized. With a sigh, I spoke. "Katherine," I said simply.

"I _knew _you were still in love with him," Katherine said, pointing at me. "You know, it wouldn't surprise me if he _were _still in love with you, to be honest." I swallowed. "Oh, don't look so surprised. Damon's crazy about you. You think a little fun with my doppelgänger's going to change his mind?" Katherine scoffed. I rubbed my eyes and tried to divert the conversation.

"What are you doing here, Katherine?"

"I need to use your shower," she said with a smile. I blinked.

"That's it?" Katherine nodded, and I sighed. "Okay, yeah. Go on, whatever." Katherine shot me a smile before prancing into the shower in our room. I heard the water run and I decided to get out of bed and get changed. Afterwards, Katherine stepped out of the shower, a hair-coloring box in her hand. I raised my eyebrows. "Did you dye your hair a different color or something?" I asked, but I didn't see any significant change.

Katherine, wrapped tight in a towel, walked towards the full-length mirror by Caroline's bed. "Or something," she responded, running a hand through her wet hair. I shrugged and decided not to ask. Just a moment passed before we were interrupted.

"I don't wanna know if Tyler called," Caroline said as she walked into the room. I looked back at her. "So, don't even tell me." Caroline walked over to me and set a box down on her bed. "Do you want to do small appliances or toiletries? I'd compel a cute boy to pack for us, but, I don't think I want to see a cute boy _ever _again," she vented, packing the things on our shared nightstand. "Except for Jesse who's, conveniently, not answering his phone."

"Um, we're moving out?" Katherine asked. I looked over at her and opened my mouth, but Caroline stopped me with her words.

"Hello?" she sung. "Doctor Maxfield thinks we're vampires?" She continued to pack frantically. "Threatened to expose us? Told us to drop out." Caroline titled her head. "Well, everyone except Madeline because he has some weird, creepy crush on her."

"He's not creepy," I countered, defending him. Caroline shot me a glance. "And…I wouldn't call it a crush. Besides, not like I can even _talk _to a guy without Damon going all _Superman _on me and showing up to interrupt," I mumbled. "Plus, he didn't gain any points when he told you two to leave the campus."

"That sucks," Katherine muttered under her breath as she turned around. Caroline looked at Katherine for a moment while I picked up a book that Caroline had thrown into the box and studied it. Suddenly, there was a gust of wind, and I dropped the book and let out a gasp while I quickly got up from the bed. Caroline pinned Katherine to the nearest wall.

"How the _hell _did you not realize this wasn't Elena?" Caroline demanded of me as she turned around to face me. I shrugged.

"I knew it wasn't Elena," I said simply. "Katherine needed to shower, so I let her. What's the big deal?"

"What's the big deal?" Caroline retorted. "_Seriously_? What's the big deal?" She turned to Katherine. "What the _hell _are you doing in our dorm, Katherine?"

Through struggled breathing, Katherine responded. "I just needed a place to crash."

"What? I loathe you," Caroline snapped.

"I'm desperate, okay?" Katherine replied through the barrier that was Caroline's hand cutting off her wind pipe. "Damon kicked me out, Stefan doesn't remember me, and I just spent my last twenty dollars on a _meal _that I didn't even get to enjoy."

"Yeah, life sucks, doesn't it?" I murmured under my breath as I grabbed the book from the box again with a sigh.

"And how is any of this our problem?" Caroline said unsympathetically.

Katherine struggled for a moment. "Look at you," she snarled. "Moving out? Giving up? That's very _un-_Caroline of you." I watched as Caroline tightened the grip on Katherine's neck. "You need me," Katherine choked. "_Bad_." With a moment of hesitation, Caroline released Katherine.

"Doppelgängster has a point," I voiced. Caroline looked back at me, confused. I snapped my fingers. "Right; _doppelgänger. _I keep forgetting that one."

"Doppelgängster?" Katherine repeated. But, with a shrug, she agreed. "Yeah, okay, I'll go with it."

"What do you want?" Caroline sighed, turning back to Katherine.

"A place to stay," Katherine answered. "And Elena's meal card. And I'll help you deal with Doctor…Whoever."

"Maxfield," I filled in. "Doctor Maxfield. He's the bio teacher."

Katherine scoffed. "I'm sorry, _what_?" she demanded. "He's a _teacher? _You two are scared of a _teacher_." Caroline was silent.

"In all fairness," I tried. "_I'm _not scared of him."

"Right." Katherine shot me a smile. "You have a crush on him." I shrugged. There was no point in denying it, but I was sure that it was definitely not a good type of crush if he knew about vampires and threatened my best friend and sister. "Aw, sweetie, you two need to take a crash course on Villain one-oh-one." Caroline rolled her eyes and Katherine brushed past her, the towel still tight against her chest. "Lucky for you, I have an honorary doctorate," Katherine quipped and looked back at Caroline. "What do you say, roomies?" Katherine shot a glance to me as well, and I shrugged.

"Sure, why not?" I threw the book into the box. "Not like I had any better plans. Caroline?" Katherine and I looked at her.

Caroline groaned. "Ugh! Fine! Fine!" She looked at Katherine. "What do you suppose we do?"

"Well," Katherine began. "For starters." She shot a glance to me again. "You're going to need to change into something a _lot _sluttier."

* * *

With a large, shameful exhale, I walked up to the door of Wes's office and knocked on it. He was in the middle of a sentence, talking into a recorder when I interrupted. I gave him a smile.

"Madeline." He returned my grin. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to come by," I said, shrugging. Maxfield put the recorder down on the table. "You know, talk about last night and everything?"

Wes sighed. "I wish you didn't have to get involved in this, but your sister _is _a vampire," he retorted. "It would probably be better if you went back to Mystic Falls, too."

I walked up to the table he was working at and looked down for a moment. "But what good would that do for me?" I countered, looking up at him through mascara-heavy eyes that Katherine decided to douse me in. Wes was quiet for the longest time, and I didn't move a muscle as Katherine came up behind him and placed the needle in the doctor's neck, and he fell to the ground. Katherine looked up at me and smiled, and Caroline walked in with rope in her hands. She picked Wes up and got him onto one of his lab stools, trying him with the cords that she brought. "What now?" I asked them.

"We wait for him to wake up," Caroline said, finishing wrapping the chords tightly around Wes's arms. She grabbed some paper and a pen from Wes's desk and began to write something out. In no time, the bio teacher began to wake up, and I looked over at him.

"What did you inject him with?" Caroline asked.

"I don't know," Katherine admitted. "It just said to avoid contact with eyes." She reached over and grabbed the bottle that she used to inject him with. "And do not ingest," she added. Caroline gave her a look. "Oops."

"Give me that," I said, taking the bottle out of Katherine's hands and studying it. With a shrug, I responded. "It's Etorphine."

"There you go," Katherine replied simply, taking the bottle back and putting it down.

"What are you doing, Elena?" Wes asked Katherine. I was going to correct him, but I didn't really care that much.

Caroline stepped in as Katherine cut tape from a roll with her hands. "We're draining you of your vervain blood out of your system so that I can compel you to forget that Elena and I are vampires and to leave Madeline alone."

"Well, that wasn't apart of the plan," I countered. Caroline looked over at me. "Ugh, fine. You win. Whatever." It wasn't worth it.

"Wait, what?" Wes demanded. Caroline hushed him. "You'll kill me!"

"Shh!" Caroline demanded. "I'm just—trying to do some math. Okay. How many liters does an average male have in his system?"

"Five," I answered immediately.

Katherine agreed, "That's about right."

"Cary the one…" Caroline trailed off.

"Just…round up," Katherine ordered. Caroline shrugged.

"Perfect!" she concluded, turning around to Wes. "Four point seven pints!" Caroline tossed me the needle and I walked over to Wes.

"Which arm do I use?" I asked them.

"Untie me," Wes pleaded. "I'll find the vein myself. You will kill me."

I frowned at him. "_Really? _You _seriously _doubt my skills to find a vein? This is why I hate teachers," I breathed angrily as I looked up at Caroline. She grinned lightly. Katherine held out her hand.

"Give me," she ordered. "It's not my first rodeo." I sighed and handed her the needle, which she took and turned to Caroline. "Can you hand me one of those tubey-things and…uh…some tape?" Caroline walked over to get the tube and I got the table from the table and handed it to Katherine. Katherine stuck the needle inside of Wes's arm and taped it down with what I handed her, and Caroline gave Katherine the tube. The doppelgänger put the tube onto the attachment of the needle and the blood from Wes's body began to drain, which she put into a large beaker.

"Oh, my God," Caroline breathed. "It's _totally _working."

Katherine smiled and looked back at Doctor Maxfield. "Ta-da," she sung. With an exhale, she grabbed a scalpel from the table and waved it in Wes's face. "So," she began, trailing the scalpel along Wes's shoulders while she walked behind him. "Doctor." Katherine walked around to stand next to me in front of Wes. "You tell me"—She put the scalpel up to his jugular—"Who else knows about us?" Katherine demanded. Wes shifted, slightly afraid.

"If you were willing to kill me, you wouldn't have gone through all this trouble," Wes retorted. Katherine stared at him, point-blank, and Wes turned his eyes to me. "You should've made them leave, like I told you to." Katherine pushed the scalpel harder against his throat. Wes swallowed. "They're onto you. All of you."

"Who's they?" I asked him.

"The people you want to expose us to?" Caroline suggested, her tone light. "The secret society thingy that you belong to?" She tilted her head knowingly.

"There's a gathering today at Whitmore house," Wes rushed out. "They're using it to suss out potential candidates." He looked at Katherine. "They were going to invite you until they started suspecting you were a vampire." Wes looked at me next. "They were going to invite you, too, but they realized that you were a conflict of interest."

I raised my eyebrows. "So all we have to do is show up there and that rules us out?" I challenged.

Katherine smiled. "We convince them that Elena Gilbert isn't a vampire and that's it." She grinned widely and laughed. "Done." She removed the scalpel from Wes's jugular.

"They'll never let you in," he told Katherine. "And a vampire can never get past the threshold."

Well, it's a good thing Katherine wasn't a vampire. "I think I'll survive," Katherine said cryptically towards Wes. Katherine turned to me. "All right, sis, I think we need to go get changed." Katherine cocked a grin. "We have a party to get to."

* * *

"I feel _ridiculous,_" I mumbled as Katherine and I walked up to the Whitmore House, all dolled up to put on the show of our lives as the Gilbert sisters. Katherine wore a girlish flower-printed dress with her hair pinned to one side. She had gotten it from Elena's things that were going to be boxed up before she came to us and helped. I wore a cream-colored dress that was _apparently _mine, though I had never seen it before in my life. The blue streak in my hair still stuck out, but I had shaped my hair so I didn't look like some gothic chick straight out of the loony bin.

"Well, no wonder. I mean, didn't Damon buy you that dress, anyway?" I gave her a look of alarm.

"What?" I hissed. She walked up to the door and fixed the pin in her hair while shrugging.

"Yeah. Wasn't it for your birthday or something? God, he's so hopeless."

"Katherine!" I shrieked. "Why didn't you stop me from putting the damn dress on?" I demanded.

She shrugged again. "Well, I mean, you're wearing the locket, too, I don't know why you're so upset about it."

"I'm trying to move on," I told her. Katherine shot me a look and began to laugh. "What?"

"I'm sorry," she said through her laughs. "_You _moving on from Damon? Yeah, okay. When pigs fly." Katherine chuckled more before turning back to the door and knocking on it, stopping our conversation. I sighed heavily and crossed my arms over my chest, my fingers grazing the locket that I did, in fact, keep on my neck. But not for Damon. I only kept it on because I knew it was the only protection I had from vampires.

Suddenly, a woman came up to the door and opened it for the both of us. "Miss Gilbert," she said, looking at me and Katherine. Katherine raised her eyebrows.

"You know me?" Katherine asked. I interrupted with a smile.

"Diane Freedman," I greeted. The woman who had helped us after Meghan died smiled lightly. "I hope you don't mind us dropping by, we just wanted to see if we would be able to join," I said politely.

Diane raised her eyebrows. "I…I didn't realized that you two would be joining us."

Katherine gave a look of alarm and turned to me. "Madeline, did you forget to RSVP?" Katherine gasped. I sighed and looked at Diane.

"Right," I said, giving a light, annoyed laugh. "I'm sorry, I've been so busy with…school and everything." Damn Katherine. Why did _I _have to be the one to forget? In all honesty, Elena would probably be the better advocate for the forgetful type.

Diane gave us a weak smile. "We just started the tea," she began, carefully avoiding an invitation. She stepped aside and I smiled at her before walking in with ease, and Katherine took a moment of self-pride before waltzing in, stunning Diane, I presumed. When Katherine was inside, she looked around, as did I, but turned to Diane.

"Got any food?" Katherine demanded, searching with her eyes for a food table. Suddenly, she pranced off in a different direction and I laughed nervously at Diane.

"Sisters," I explained vaguely, and Diane nodded, still surprised. I let out a deep breath and turned, going after Katherine – wherever she went. And, I found her, eventually, chomping on the horderves like a madwoman. I walked up to her briskly. "Seriously, Katherine?"

"What?" I rolled my eyes at her, but she continued eating. While she shoved food into her purse, someone walked beside her and watched as Katherine shoved food in her mouth again. He oddly reminded me of Wes – blonde hair, blue/green eyes…

I sighed and decided to break the ice. "I apologize for my sister, she's a bit of a _cavewoman_," I said pointedly to Katherine. Katherine shrugged.

"Are you two the sandwich police or something?" Katherine sneered, shoving another one into her mouth. The boy laughed.

"I'm just trying to figure out why Wes told me to stay away from you," the boy said, turning to Katherine. Katherine stopped eating and I raised my eyebrows at him.

"I'm sorry, do we know you?"

"Aaron," he introduced himself. "You're…Elena's sister?" I took the hand that he extended and shook it once.

"Yeah," I said slowly. "When did you meet Elena?" I inquired, confused.

"Yesterday," he responded and looked at Katherine. "You changed your hair it's…" he trailed off.

"Aaron," Katherine said quickly, avoiding the compliment. She laughed a little. "Duh. Hi!" She turned and looked at everyone in the room. "So, what are you doing here? Are you apart of _the secret society_?" Katherine whispered.

I hit her arm. "Elena!" I laughed awkwardly.

Katherine frowned at me. "_Ouch_," she snapped. I squared my jaw at her.

"Wait, the what?" Aaron asked, confused. Oh, God, this was a terrible idea.

Katherine looked back at Aaron. "Oh, you know." She dropped her voice. "_The society?" _Katherine winked at him. I rolled my eyes. Great. Katherine was going to end up having sex with this dude and he was going to think she was Elena. Awesome.

"I…still have no idea," Aaron responded with a slap-happy smile. Katherine straightened and smiled, never once breaking her pulled back lips.

"Either you're clueless or you're _very _good at keeping secrets," she praised him. Suddenly, she began to cough.

"Katherine?" I asked her, confused as to what was happening. Without warning, Katherine took off in the other direction, and I just stared after her.

"Quite a sister you have, there," Aaron said to me after a while of us standing alone. I looked over at him reluctantly, deciding not to go after Katherine just yet.

"Yeah," I agreed. "She's a freaking _pony ride_." I sighed heavily and turned around. I reached for food, but all of a sudden, my phone rang. I answered it without looking at the Caller ID. "Yes?"

_"Madeline_?" I rolled my eyes. It was Damon. Why? I was having such a good day.

"What?" I snapped. Aaron looked at me and spoke.

"Is everything okay?" he asked. I nodded at him and covered the phone with my hand.

"I'll be right back," I promised, turning to go off somewhere to take the call.

_"Who the hell was that?" _Damon demanded.

"No one."

_"Didn't sound like no one." _

"Well, you're right, it was someone, I just don't care enough to tell you who."

Damon took in a deep breath. _"Where the hell are you, Madeline?" _

"I'm with Katherine," I told him immediately. "We're investigating the creepy society thing that Wes was talking about."

_"With Katherine?" _Damon's voice was unmistakably angry and high-pitched.

"Yes, with Katherine," I responded. "Unlike you and Elena, she's actually _fun._"

Damon let out a frustrated sigh. _"You're impossible,_" he hissed. _"But I need you to get the hell away from there and go to the house. Stefan, Audrey, and Elena are all trapped in Tessa's house in danger, Jeremy and I are with Silas and the last thing I need is for something bad to happen to you, too!" _

I did a double take. "What the hell is going on, Damon?"

_"I will explain everything when I get back," _Damon breathed out_. "But, please. For me. Go back to Mystic Falls and stay in that house until I come back. Don't go out for anything, just stay there. Can you do that for me?" _I paused for a moment. I wanted to say no, but Damon's voice was full of concern. How could I say no to that? _"Madeline!" _

"Yes, yes," I said immediately after he shouted my name. "I'll be back in Mystic Falls when you get back, okay? Are you going to be okay?"

_"I'll be fine." _

"Okay." I breathed out a heavy sigh and debated my next words. "Damon?"

_"Yes?" _

"Be careful." With that, I hung up the phone without another word to say. I slipped it into my side purse and walked over to Aaron, who was still waiting for me to return to him. "Listen, I've got to run," I told him quickly. He raised his eyebrows. "Family stuff. Uh, but do me a favor? If you see Elena, tell her that I went back home and that there's nothing to worry about." Aaron nodded after a moment, and I thanked him and left the Whitmore House to go back to Mystic Falls.

* * *

I had only been waiting for an hour when a car pulled up at the house. I stood up and waited, and Jeremy entered the house, worn and tired out.

"Mads," Jeremy breathed out, as if relieved. "Good, at least you're okay."

"What happened?" I asked him. "Are you all right?"

Jeremy let out a long breath of air. "Ugh, I feel like crap, but yeah, I'm okay." He paused when I raised my eyebrow. "Long day," he admitted. "Damon said he'd explain everything to you. He'll be in soon." I nodded. "I'm going to go get something to drink," he informed me before heading off to he kitchen in his huge mansion. I watched him leave, and soon after, Damon walked in through the door hesitantly, and I let my breath catch when I saw him.

Damon looked up at me for a moment before letting out a sigh of relief. "Madeline," he breathed, and walked over to me, pulling me to him in an embrace. I was stunned for a moment, but I decided not to waste the chance that I got. I relaxed into the hug, though I could tell Damon was hesitant about it, too – like he lost track of what he was doing. His hands eventually pulled me closer, and we stayed like that for a moment. It was…nice, but it was also _wrong. _Why did it have to be this way? I tilted my head so that it rested on his shoulder. "You okay?" Damon whispered.

"I'm fine," I promised him, pulling him away. "Despite your opinion, Elena's doppelgängster is actually nice-ish," I added. Damon raised his eyebrows at me and tried not to laugh.

"Doppelgängster?" he tried. I shrugged. "Did you spend some time with a gang or something while you were gone this summer?"

I let out a long sigh while staring at him. "Or something," I responded. He nodded. "What happened tonight? Why was it so important for me to come home? Did you really think something was going to happen to me?"

"Well, Tessa was going all witch-crazy and I couldn't take any more chances," Damon admitted. "She wanted me to kill Silas or Elena would die. She mentioned you, and I knew that she would hurt you, too," Damon explained. I swallowed.

"Well?" I prompted. "Did you kill Silas?"

"No," Damon answered with a heavy sigh. "Amara drank from him and I don't know where Silas is. And, now, we have Amara and we need to protect her before she gets herself killed."

I blinked at Damon. "Amara, as in the very first doppelgänger?"

"I thought it was doppelgängster." Damon raised his eyebrows accusingly. I frowned at him.

"Shut up, I'm actually trying to be serious here."

Damon let a large smile onto his face. "I know you are," he said with a grin, and it only made me smile. We stayed like that for a while before he let his gaze drop and his hand slip into his pocket. "So…uh…don't you think we should talk about last night?" Damon started.

I let out a deep breath. "I'm sorry for slapping you," I said slowly. "I was angry and _you _don't help that situation very much, you know," I told him firmly.

"Well don't do it again," Damon demanded, his voice cold. I cleared my throat. The old Damon was back. The one that didn't ask for my help and, instead, just told me what to do. I turned from him and walked down into the parlor.

"Yeah, okay. Fine. I said I was sorry." With my head ducked, I walked forward, but I was stopped by a body that kept me from going anywhere. Within seconds, cold hands were around my face, and I looked up to see Damon, and he was quiet for a long time. "What are you doing?" I whispered.

"I'm sorry," he said after a while, shaking his head. "You…you shouldn't have to be the one apologizing, Madeline, I hurt you." He looked down at my lips and my heartbeat sped up. "So, I'm sorry."

For some…_odd _reason, I knew that this was the first time he was saying it. He had never apologized to me for sleeping with her. And it was hard for him. Damon swallowed and we stood like that – frozen – for moments at a time, before we were interrupted by Jeremy. Damon's eyes flickered up to the left entrance into the parlor, and I looked back to see my brother. I cleared my throat and Damon removed his hands from my face, and I turned around and laughed nervously at Jeremy.

"Damon told me that you guys really _did _have a long day," I said, switching gears. "So…you sure you're okay, Jer?"

"I'm fine," he assured me, looking back at Damon and back at me. I took in a breath and crossed my arms before looking back at Damon.

"Where's Elena, Audrey, and Stefan?" I asked immediately. "Are they okay?"

Damon nodded. "Elena called. They should be here any minute now." He walked over to his ridiculous display of bourbon bottles and brought out two glasses. "Who wants a drink?"

"I do." Jeremy sighed and put the water that he had got from the kitchen down on a coaster. "I need something _wayy _stronger than water."

"Aren't you seventeen?" I challenged Jeremy, giving him an accusative eye.

Jeremy frowned at me. "It's been a long day, Madeline, give me a break." I shrugged after a moment, realizing that he was right. Jeremy took a glass from Damon, sat on a chair across from the couch, and Damon poured another glass – which I assumed was for him. I sat down in the middle of the couch and Damon walked over to me, sitting down. I stared at him for a moment as he extended the bourbon glass to me, and I looked up at him. He tilted it again, indicating that I should take it. I sighed and took the glass while Damon drank straight out of the bottle. Before I drank the stuff, I sniffed it once and shrugged, downing it in a gulp. It burned all the way down my throat, and Damon glanced over at me as I passed him the glass and motioned for him to pour more. He snickered for a moment before pouring me more of the alcohol from the bottle, then drinking out of the bottle himself.

And that's when Elena, Audrey, and Stefan came in. Elena walked straight into the parlor, looking angry and tired. Audrey looked over at Damon and the rest of us.

"Uh…" she started. "Do you guys mind if I stay here tonight? It's late and I don't have a car." Audrey shot a knowing glance to Elena, who just scoffed. I looked over at her. What the hell was her problem now? I took another gulp of the bourbon, which burned straight down my throat again.

"Sure," Damon agreed, taking a gulp out of the bottle. "Go ahead." He sighed and watched as Stefan and Audrey reluctantly went up the stairs together, though I got a strange vibe. Damon sighed heavy and, without turning to anyone, spoke. "Stefan Salvatore sleeps in his own bed tonight," Damon announced. "Does that mean he stopped hating us or did power of the doppelgänger universe push him into the car with you?"

Elena sighed. "Well, he…um…saved my life, and Audrey's," Elena spoke bitterly. "I'll take that as not hate _and _the fact that this universe crap doesn't exist."

"So Stefan and Audrey are back together?" I asked, confused. I was still bewildered at the fact that they were dating. I mean, a Salvatore for each of us? Eh, Elena didn't deserve them, so why not?

Elena shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Victory in a day, otherwise marred by failure," Damon said glumly, tilting his glass towards me. I bumped my bourbon glass to him and he tilted it to Jeremy next. Elena looked at Jeremy for a moment while Damon and I threw hour heads back and drank.

"We couldn't get Bonnie back," Jeremy defended himself. "I get a pass."

"Did I say anything?"

Jeremy shrugged. No one said anything for a while, but then Jeremy spoke, and it wasn't to us. "No. No, I won't, because…it's not."

"Okay…?" I trailed off, confused. "You okay over there, Jer?"

Jeremy threw his hands up. "Bonnie's here," he said immediately. Elena looked around the room. I raised my eyebrows, but didn't say anything to jeopardize my place here. "She wants us not to worry."

"We're going to keep trying, Bonnie, okay? It's not over," Elena said frantically. "We've dealt with much worse."

"Well, Silas is MIA and out and about," Damon said, taking the conversation in a different direction. "Which is pretty bad." Damon rose from his seat. "And Amara has been cured, which is even worse, because now, she's easy to kill. So the fate of the Other Side, where Bonnie currently resides, rests on a living, breathing, human being that we now need to protect." He tilted the bottle up and drank a long swallow. What a cheerful way to look at things.

But nothing in this life was cheerful. Absolutely nothing.

_"We _need to protect?" Elena asked, confused. I looked over at her.

"Yeah, Damon has your doppelgänster." Elena looked over at me as well, as if waiting for me to elaborate. "Seriously, Elena?" I narrowed my eyes. "Literally _everyone _I said that to has found it funny today." I sighed and turned back to my own alcoholic beverage. "You really don't know how to laugh," I muttered before I drained the alcohol, and it burned again down the pathway to my stomach. From the corner of my eye, I could see Damon give me a slight smile, and I smiled in return.

Today was a good day.

The question now was, what would tomorrow bring?

* * *

**I don't know, I thought that chapter was a little boring. What I wanted to do was separate Damon and Madeline for a little while, but at the end, I would bring them together again. This is going to keep happening for a little while, but...well, I'm totally not changing the fact that DE broke up in 5x10 so...you'll just have to wait 'til then to see what happens *wink wink***

**Again, if you'd do me that favor and read my story Bloodshed if you have time, I would be so grateful to you. As always, your choice, though. But, other than that, Happy Holidays and I'll try to get another chapter out ASAP. **

_**Love, **_

_**BellaSalvatore1918**_

_**X**_


	7. Death and the Maiden

**I apologize for the short wait that you all had to endure! That was really mean of me because I told you all that I would update. Don't worry, though, I think you might all forgive me after this chapter...leaving it there. **

**No, but really, the episode was ****_really _****boring with all this doppelgänger shit, so I just bypassed that completely and didn't do a lot with the whole scene with Katherine, Elena, and Amara and everything. **

**I hope you like it, and again, I'm sorry for the wait. I'm going to work on the next chapter soon because I have a ****_lot _****in store. **

**Tell me what you think at the end! Try not to have a heart attack. **

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1 please :) **

* * *

**Death and the Maiden**

"Stefan?" I sung while entering Stefan's bedroom to wake him up, per Elena's request. Stefan was thrashing back and forth on his bed. Well, someone was having a bad dream. I walked over to him. "Stef! Stefan, wake up!" I shook him once, and Stefan jolted upright in the bed, scaring me just a little bit. He was drenched in sweat. "Okay…so, what did _you _take before you went to bed?"

"Madeline." Stefan swallowed. "How did you…?" I raised my eyebrows at him when Stefan trailed off. "You don't remember."

I looked at him, confused. "Err…what?"

Stefan cleared his throat. "You don't remember anything," he said with an accusative tone.

"Duh," I said, worried. "I told you that the day of Bonnie's funeral. What's going on, Stef?" I asked, blinking at him incredulously.

Stefan took a moment before answering. "I remember," he clarified.

I stared at him for the longest time. "You do?" Well, this was something I didn't see coming. "But, wait…so…you remember…_everything _that Tessa's spell made you forget?"

"Everything."

"Oh," I said after a long pause. Well, there went the one person I could talk to about this. "Well, then."

"Yeah." Stefan took in a deep breath. I stuck out my hand, which barred a mug of coffee. Elena sent me up with it, though I was probably going to come and talk to Stefan regardless.

"Here," I said, giving him the coffee. "I brought you coffee."

"Thanks." He was silent for a moment after he took the coffee. "So…you don't remember…_anything_? Like, anything at all?"

I shrugged. "Well, I had that freaky dream sequence after you fed on me and I died the other day, but other than that, it's just been small things." I sat down on the bed and Stefan shifted to make room. "I mean, I'll look at a plate and remember seeing it before. I remember the house a little. I also remember another house…?"

Stefan nodded. "Yeah, Elena burned that one down."

I nodded slowly. "Yeah…she's…uh…_special, _that one."

"She's been through a lot," Stefan admitted. "Though you've probably been through worse," he added. I shrugged and sipped my own coffee that I barred.

"Yeah, well, tough love." I drank the coffee and was silent for the longest moment. "You're not going to—"

"Tell Damon?" Stefan filled in for me, sipping his own coffee. I frowned.

"Well, I was _going _to say everyone in general—" Stefan ignored me and moved on.

"He should know," Stefan said immediately. "They should all know. You might not remember, but I do." I raised my eyebrows. "Silas knocked you unconscious before he locked me up in the safe and threw me into the quarry. He did something to you, too, and I guess that something was sending you somewhere until you could find your way back."

I grimaced. "Or," I started, "I'm in a coma and _you're _a figment of my imagination." I sipped my coffee.

Stefan scowled at me. "Okay, as unreal as this world probably is to you, it's real to me and to everyone else." He paused. "Damon should know."

I groaned. "But _why_?" I said, slightly whining. "He doesn't need to! I've been getting along just fine—"

"He should know," Stefan repeated slowly, telling me as careful as he could. I sighed. "You still love him."

"No," I countered, pointing at me. "I _think _I love him."

"There's a difference?"

"Yeah!" I retorted, getting up from the bed. "And regardless, I'm trying to move on with my life."

"So?" Stefan demanded. "If you tell him, then there's a better chance at that happening."

I chuckled. "In what world?" I replied. "If Damon knows about my memory loss, he's going to go on some weird hero rampage and try and make me remember like Elena did with you," I pointed out. Stefan was silent. "See? Letting Damon think that I remember is better than the alternative."

"What's the alternative?" someone came into the room, and I prayed silently that it wasn't Damon as I turned around. And it wasn't, which let me breathe a sigh of relief. It was only Audrey. "What are we talking about?" she asked us.

"Stefan got his memory back," I answered. Audrey widened her eyes and looked over at Stefan, who nodded in response. I felt a wave of awkwardness soar through the room, so I decided to break it. "Okay…well…I've got to go…uh, be somewhere." I shrugged and got off of the bed, quickly getting out of the room as fast as I could. I walked down the stairs and into the foyer, where Damon was sitting alone with his early morning alcohol. "Isn't it a little too early to be divulging in the alcohol, Damon?" I voiced my opinion and walked over to him, my arms crossed on my chest.

"It's _never _to early, Madeline." He shot me a weak smile and titled his glass towards me before drinking the contents inside. I frowned, knowing something was wrong with him. I sat down on the couch and turned as he drained every single drop in his glass.

"Are you okay, Damon?" I asked slowly. Damon was hesitant for a moment before turning his head to me and, without one of his smiles, he nodded.

"Never better," he said, his voice low. But I didn't believe it. Not one bit. I looked at him for a moment and he stared right back at me. What if Stefan was right? What if Damon needed to know that I didn't remember to move on? What if _I _needed to move on was for Damon to know that I didn't know him?

This was all just so complicated.

"Damon," I began. "I need to tell you something." Damon was silent, a single gesture for me to continue. "Um…"

"I remember," someone interrupted us. Damon and I turned our heads to see Stefan walking down into the parlor with Audrey by his side. I looked at Stefan, and he looked right back at me. Why did he interrupt? I was going to tell Damon.

Damon blinked. "You do?" he asked. Stefan nodded. "Like…_everything_?" Stefan nodded again.

"What's going on?" Elena said as she entered the parlor as well. Stefan explained everything – how Tessa gave him his memories back the night before. Damon, however, didn't really believe him.

"October, eighteen fifty-two?" Damon prompted Stefan as we all sat around in the parlor, trying to figure out whether Stefan really _did _have all of his memories back.

Stefan took a moment. "You…broke my nose teaching me how to throw a right hook," Stefan answered.

"But not on purpose," Damon defended himself. Stefan nodded, agreeing. "Just to be clear," he added, turning back to Elena. Elena let out a small laugh. She was happy Stefan had his memory back—that was evident. I don't think Damon liked it all that much. Oh, well. Sucks for them. Damon continued, "How much did you pay for that hunk of junk motorcycle that you ride?" he questioned. I blinked.

"Stefan rides a motorcycle?" I blurted out. Everyone looked over at me and Stefan covered for me.

"Yeah, Mads," he said quickly. "Don't you remember?" Stefan prompted, giving me a look. I widened my eyes and nodded reassuringly.

"Yep. Yeah. I remember. Sorry, momentary lapse," I tried. Damon looked over at me, concerned, but Stefan continued.

"Trick question," Stefan answered skillfully. Damon turned to look at Stefan. "You bought me that motorcycle. Although, I'm guessing it was…pretty expensive."

"So…Tessa just gave you back your memories, no strings attached?" Well, I guess Damon found his answer: all the memories were there, right where they belonged. Now where the hell did mine go?

"Well, it wasn't exactly a gift," Stefan returned. We all raised our eyebrows at him. "It's a lot to take in all at once. Everything from…blowing out the candles of my first birthday cake to…drowning in a safe." He went silent.

"Stefan?" I tried. Stefan was quiet. "Yoo-hoo? Stefan?"

"Stefan?" Elena repeated. I rolled my eyes. Like that was going to—

The next sound I heard was a breaking glass, Stefan's fingers wrapped around tiny shards. Stefan was brought back to reality.

Damon was hesitant. "Whoa! _Easy _there, buddy," Damon warned. Stefan looked at his hand, but it was healing. Elena got up from her position on the couch ledge and worriedly looked at the youngest Salvatore.

"Stefan?" she asked. "Where did you go?"

"Where did he go?" I repeated, confused. "He's right here…" Audrey slapped my arm and I let out a light cry. What the hell? I was asking a question. Stefan didn't go anywhere, he was right here. With us. What, did Elena magically get into his head? I understand that he was in a little bit of a trance for a moment, but "Where did you go?" Really? Why was _that _the question she posed.

Stefan gave a light laugh. "All that and I can't even remember my own strength," he muttered, trying to cover up his slight imperfection. Damon and Elena looked at each other worriedly, but the beating of the first doppelgänger that was down in the cellar interrupted us all. "What was that noise?" he asked.

"Uh…well, that is—"

"Amara," I said, cutting Damon off. "The very first doppelgänsgster." Stefan raised his eyebrows. "Doppelgänger," I explained.

"Come on," he said, gesturing to Stefan. "Let's go check on her. I'll explain on the way down." And, with that, Damon and Stefan disappeared down to the cellar, and I just reached over and poured myself some of Damon's bourbon and drank out of his glass. He was right. It was never too early for a drink.

* * *

"We need to buy some more time," Elena rushed out, pacing. "Protect Amara." She turned around to face the four of us who just watched her. "Maybe we should move her somewhere else." Apparently, Damon had called Silas and told him that he wanted Amara dead to put her out of her misery and so that they could spend eternity in the afterlife together. If he wasn't such a dick and didn't send me off to an alternate realm or _whatever, _I might've thought it was sweet.

"Silas is a witch!" Damon countered. "He's a living, breathing, GPS tracking device. He'll track her wherever we take her."

"We can't let him anywhere _near_ her until he bring Bonnie back." Well, that was a long shot. If Silas died, we wouldn't be able to bring Bonnie back from the Other Side, as I had been explained. And Silas wasn't a very friendly person to deal with.

"Weren't you listening to anything?" Stefan demanded. "He's not going to bring her back!"

"So, what?" Elena pressured. "I should just…give up?" she mocked. "Come on, Stefan. You got your memory back. You know me…probably better than anyone else. Do you really think that I'm going to give up?"

"What other choice do we have?" I countered. "Silas is scary. He'll kill every single one of us when he has the chance, and if we keep holding out hope for him like this, he knows that we won't hurt him until we get what we want. There's no other option."

"I'm not going to give up, Madeline," Elena said through her teeth.

Stefan interrupted. "You know what, Elena? You're right. I do know you." He was angry now, I could tell. "You put your hope in all the wrong places." Stefan's eyes flickered towards Damon. "And, sometimes, in the wrong people." Ouch. "Silas needs to die and put us all out of our misery." Go, Stefan.

"So long as he's alive, I'm holding out hope that he can still help us." Can someone just slap her already? He won't help us! He's made that clear! I groaned.

"What the hell are you going to do, Elena?" I snapped at her. "Bore him with morality until he finally gives up and helps us? He locked Stefan in a quarry for three months! He's a _villain_," I hissed. I didn't want to mention the part about screwing with my memory, but I knew Stefan understood.

"She's right, Elena, I wouldn't hold your breath. Pun intended," Stefan shot. "Silas needs to die, and I need to be the one to kill him. End of story." With nothing else, Stefan walked away immediately. Damon drew his breath in and looked at me.

"Wow, Madeline." Damon looked at me pointedly and I turned my head to face him. "You seem to be pretty upset at the guy. Got anything to share?" he prompted. My heart raced. What? Did he know?

I decided to play it down. "No," I said, shrugging. "Why?"

Damon gave a look of annoyance and turned away from me. What the hell was his problem _now_?

Before anyone could continue, Jeremy came rushing out from the cellar, frantic. "I know how to save Bonnie," he rushed out.

"What?" Elena repeated. "How?"

"Amara," Jeremy explained. "Amara could _see _Bonnie and Bonnie could _touch _her." Wow. So groundbreaking. "They made physical contact. It's…it's like Amara's got a foot on each side or something," he told us. Elena held up her hands and knotted her eyebrows.

"Amara exists in both places at once?" Elena repeated. "Here _and _the Other Side?" Jeremy nodded.

"Then, she's not _crazy, _crazy. She's just…talking to dead supernatural beings roaming around in our basement," Damon quipped.

"The point is," Jeremy continued, "if Silas isn't going to help us, what if Bonnie could be the same thing? What if she existed on both sides at once – what if she became the anchor?"

"And would we do you do that?" Audrey asked, confused.

"A spell," Elena whispered, looking up at Jeremy. "You're right. Jeremy, you're right. So all we need is for somebody to do that spell."

Damon groaned. "Oh, please don't say who I think you're going to say," Damon pleaded.

"Think about it," Elena pushed. "Silas wants Amara to die and…Amara wants Amara to die." Damon gave a look of approval. "So, who, besides us, is the one person with the biggest stake against letting that happen?"

"Stefan?" I offered. Elena shot me a glance. "Oh, does he count as 'us'?"

"Tessa," Damon filled in. "Elena's referring to Tessa, which means that we need to go and make a pitch to her about switching the anchors," he told me, standing up. "I'll go." He began to walk away, but I made a snap decision.

"Damon!" I called out, standing up from my seat. He turned back to look at me. "I'm going with."

"No." Damon laughed. "You're not."

"Yes," I countered. "I am." He was quiet. "Tessa and I have unfinished business, I'm going." I left Elena, Audrey, and Jeremy's side and walked over to Damon, who was hesitant, but I wasn't going to give this one up. I had my own car. I would follow him. Damon eventually groaned and took me with him. When we were safe enough from the house, Damon spoke.

"So," he began. "Is there a reason you didn't tell me that you don't remember anything or did you just feel like keeping it to yourself?" Damon asked, but it was in a nonchalantly bitter manner. I looked over at him.

"What?"

"I know," Damon said eventually, shooting me a glance. "Silas told me when I was talking on the phone with him. How he made some witch cast a spell on you that sent you to some alternate dimension or something like that." I swallowed. "That's where you were this summer, weren't you?"

"Damon—"

"Why didn't you tell me, Madeline?" I didn't say anything. "Why?" he pushed. I let out a frustrated groan.

"Because you would try and make me remember again," I snapped at him. He remained silent. "Because you told me that you didn't want me to forget, and that's exactly what happened to me. If you found out, from what I've learned, you would've pushed and pushed and _pushed _to figure out a way to fix it, just like you're doing with trying to get Bonnie back."

Damon scoffed. "Of course I would figure out a way to get your memories back," Damon said, as if it were obvious. "There's no question about it. So what? I have to _apologize _for wanting you to remember everyone?"

"No," I countered. "No. You wouldn't do it for me to remember everyone, you would've done it so I could remember you." He gritted his teeth. "Don't try to deny it, Damon. I may not remember you, but I know you. And everything I've learned since I came back this summer is that you and your _selfish _ways would've interfered with me and I would've ended up right back where I started at the beginning of the summer. I wanted to move on."

"And you think the best way of doing that is to forget? What good would that do?" he snorted as he pulled up to the pathway to Tessa's house. I scoffed and turned my head to look out to the road.

"Whatever, Damon. I guess you're going to do whatever you want to do, so I don't want to argue anymore." He pulled up to Tessa's cabin and I immediately got out of the car. I wish I could've gone alone or with Jeremy or Stefan. At least then I wouldn't have to be with Damon. He was just pissing me off. I stormed up to the cabin door, but before I could get onto the step, Damon flashed in front of me, making me flinch.

"You know what? Yeah. I _am _going to do whatever the hell I want because that's who I am," he hissed. I gulped as he stepped forward to face me. "Because I _am _selfish. I _do _want you to remember every _moment _that we spent together because then the whole _point _of the last two years I spent in Mystic Falls would be a complete _waste_." His voice was so punitive, it made me shudder a little. "So when this problem is over we're going to figure out a way to get your memories back and that's that."

"And if I don't want to get them back?" I spat. "Then what?"

Damon stared at me for a long time and squared his jaw. "I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," he said at last and turned to the door. I was left, standing and staring after him as he rasped on Tessa's door. Slowly, I made my way up to it as well, just as Tessa swung the door open to face him.

"I was hoping we could talk," Damon started.

Tessa stared at him, irritated. "And I was hoping you were my Chinese food," she returned. "Goodbye." Tessa tried to shut the door, but Damon's hand reached out and stopped it from slamming. It swung back open and Damon continued.

"You remember Amara, right?" Damon provoked. "Brunette. Brown eyes? I'm surprisingly _not _in love with her?"

Tessa turned and walked into her cabin.

"What about her?" she asked. Damon and I entered the cabin.

"She took the cure, she wants to die, and we have her," Damon filled in. Tessa turned back to us, incredulous.

"But she's alive?"

"For now." Damon scoffed. "Silas is _literally _on his way to kill her. He's completely obsessed with destroying the Other Side so he and Amara can live happily ever after in the great _beyond_." Damon mocked. Tessa gave a scowl and Damon pointed at her. "See, that's what I thought you'd look like. So how would you feel about us making a deal?" he propositioned.

Tessa looked at him for a moment. "I'm listening," she said slowly.

Damon nodded. "So, here's my pitch," he began. "In order to keep the Other Side in place, you need something powerful to anchor the spell, right? Like an immortal being _powerful_. Now, Amara was obviously a great choice until she downed the Cure." He paused and Tessa turned around to pour some tea out of a kettle. "So would you consider somebody who's dead and stuck on the other side a viable candidate?" he suggested harmlessly.

Tessa turned around immediately. "An anchor swap?" she clarified.

"Because we've got a volunteer," Damon said desperately.

"I'd be making a _ghost _a human tollbooth between our side and the Other Side, giving her the power to interact with our physical world _and _the supernatural purgatory," Tessa explained. As if we didn't know that.

"So what's the problem?" Damon countered.

"I need a _massive _amount of power to do a transfer spell like that!"

"Fine!" Damon agreed. "Name your poison."

Tessa's eyes flickered towards me. "Her," she said simply. Okay, I saw that coming, I couldn't deny that. I guess I would have to die again. That sucked. Oh, well, I would still come back…I hoped.

"Nope," Damon said without hesitation. I shook my head at his protest.

"Ignore him," I told her firmly. "I'll do it."

Damon shook his head. "Nope. She won't."

"Yes. I will," I returned through my teeth. Damon gripped my arm tightly.

"No," he said angrily, looking down at me. "You. Won't."

"Let go of me," I said, bringing my arm back to my body. Damon let out an exasperated sigh and Tessa stared at us.

"Trouble in paradise?" she remarked. I frowned at her and Damon moved on.

"What else can you use?" he asked.

Tessa sighed. "Well, the moon's not full. And I don't think there's a worthy comet for a couple of _billion _years," she said, snarky.

"Think hard!" Damon demanded. I gritted my teeth. If he would only let me be the one to be used, this could be over with.

Tessa took a moment. "Doppelgängers," she said after a while, glancing up at us. "They're powerful, mystical, naturally occurring." I expected Damon to shoot that one down, too.

"You want doppelgänger blood?" he proposed. I looked over at him. What the hell? So Elena could give Tessa her blood but _I _couldn't? Where did that add up in that thick skull of his? "I got doppelgängers coming out of my _ears_!" Damon exclaimed. "How many you want?"

* * *

When Tessa, Elena, Katherine, and Amara went into one of the rooms in the house to do this magic transfer spell that could've been easily simplified if Damon had just let me give her my blood, I sat on the couch in the parlor and drank Damon's bourbon, but out of my own glass. It was strong, but I needed it.

And when I saw Damon at the threshold of the parlor, I realized that I needed it more. I took a big gulp, letting it burn down my throat, as Damon walked into the room.

"Are you drinking my bourbon?" he asked me, sitting down on the couch. I tilted my glass without looking at him.

"Yep."

Damon scoffed, and his eye-roll was present even though I couldn't see him. "How long are you going to be mad at me?"

I shrugged. "I'm not mad," I said truthfully as I turned to face him. "It's your fault that we probably could've been done with this transfer spell an hour ago, but you just _had _to protect me again, didn't you?" I muttered and drank more of the alcohol in my cup.

"You know, I'm _curious_." Damon shot a glance over at me and I just ignored him. "What _do _you remember?"

I tensed. "What are you talking about?" I asked, breathing an airless chuckle. I turned to him and frowned. "I told you, I don't remember anything," I lied.

Damon shook his head at me. "You're lying," he said. Damn. He was good. "That day I called you on campus, you asked if I was ever close to death by a werewolf bite. You were there with me, that's when you told me that you loved me." I swallowed and he stared at me. "What else do you remember?"

"Nothing."

"You're _lying_."

"No, I'm not."

"Madeline."

"Don't _Madeline _me!" I snapped, standing up from the couch. "Why is it so important for me to remember, anyway? You got what you wanted—me out of the way so you could be with Elena. If anything, you should be _happy _that I don't remember so that I can't get in the way of your _stupid _relationship!"

I turned to walk away, pissed off once again. Why did he make me like this? So…irritated. Angry.

But as I walked away, I felt something grab my hand and pull me back, and I could barely believe it when I felt Damon's lips on mine, his hands on my waist, cautious. I stumbled into him as he kissed me, slow and steady. I was shocked at first, obviously, and knew it was wrong. Really, _really _wrong to be kissing my fake sister's boyfriend. I wasn't one to kiss…_anyone's _boyfriend. At least I was under Silas's mind control when I kissed Damon that first time, but this was real. _He _was kissing _me. I _was kissing _him_.

And I liked it.

I wanted to pull away, but I couldn't. I shouldn't have to. This fake sister of mine slept with him while we were together, this was only a taste of her own medicine. I put my hand on Damon's face and I felt his trail up to my hair, and it grew deeper, the kissing. Hotter. I could only compare it to him kissing me on the front step of that house, but it was ten times more passionate than that. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he pulled me closer, still kissing me, neither one of us giving up. And I felt like it would stay that way for a long time, neither one of us giving up. Maybe I wanted to remember this. Maybe I wanted to _continue _this.

But before we could, the lights went out and I pulled away, and both of us were panting by each other's lips.

I swallowed. "The lights went out."

"Something must've gone wrong with Tessa's spell," Damon breathed. "I'll be right back," he said, and I felt him leave through the darkness. I traced my hands on my lips as I thought about him kissing me and I felt a line of conflicted emotions. Guilt. Happiness. Anger. Sorrow. Guilt for basically doing what Elena did to me, though I'm not sure why I even felt guilty considering the circumstances. Happiness because…well, it was _nice. _No, it was better than _nice_, I didn't know how to put it into words. Anger for not knowing what to do next. And sorrow because…I didn't know what was going to _happen _next. Would he do it again? Would he say it was a mistake?

I sat down on the couch and waited for anyone to come back. I could barely see a thing in this house, there was no way I was going to move one inch.

But when I saw a candle light in mid-air, I stood up abruptly, only to see Stefan there, waiting for me.

"Stefan?" I asked, confused.

Stefan laughed. "Try again, sunshine." And then he grabbed me.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked as we exited the house, Silas's grip firm on the back of my neck, pulling me with him as we walked briskly out into the cold air.

"My doppelgänger seems to have gone rouge," Silas snapped at me as he pushed me around. "Took my one true love straight from this house and is demanding to see me. I'm using you as leverage."

"_What_ is your infatuation with me?" I snarled through my teeth. "You were the one who screwed with my head, weren't you?"

Silas laughed promptly. "Guilty," he sung. "I sent you to another realm for the summer so that you could be a backup if I couldn't take the Cure. Your blood would turn me human. I brought you back just in time, not that you thought this was anything but a dream, of course," he explained as he shoved me around.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This was all…_real_? "How do I get my memories back?" I pushed.

Silas laughed. "You don't." I was about to speak when he shoved me to the side and I stumbled in the forest just beyond the property line. "Stay there or I will kill you," Silas warned me, and I wasn't one to hear a threat and pretend it didn't exist. I stayed where he asked as he turned to the whimpering girl at the tree – the doppelgänger. Amara. He looked her up and down before breathing out her name, and he tore at her ropes until they were clean off, and he took the tie out of her mouth. I watched as the both of them put their hands on each other's faces and stared at each other for a long while and she spoke.

"I loved you," Amara whispered. "I still do." Silas looked like he was about to break down. How could the man that screwed with my memories be so…full of sadness? "But I can't live any longer. Please understand," she said under her breath.

I still stood by and watched as they tilted their heads towards each other in a near-kiss, but they didn't kiss. They just stood there for a long time, and I felt my heart give a slight pang. It was sad, seeing this. "I understand," Silas breathed out. He choked back. "I love you." Amara nodded at him and gave him a look.

Without removing their eyes from each other, he took out a knife and held it to her throat. Wait, was he seriously going to do this? He couldn't kill the woman he loved. That was _wrong_.

I saw him hesitate as Amara was ready to be killed, but he didn't do it. I didn't blame him. I wouldn't kill anyone I loved if they wanted me to.

Then again, they didn't spend two thousand years as stone talking to dead people. "Silas, please," Amara said, her voice shaking. "I-I'm ready."

And, though I saw that it killed him to do it, Silas pressed the knife into her throat, and there was a line of blood dripping from the cut. I watched in horror. It was sad. It was terrifying.

But before Amara's ending, there was a flash, I hit something, and I was unconscious.

* * *

I woke up on the forest ground, a throbbing pain inside of my head. I woke groggily, and I could feel that there was a cut on my head. My hair was over on one side due to the fact that I had been out cold with my neck exposed. I was lying next to a tree. Had I hit a tree? Had someone _thrown _me into a goddamn _tree_? Just as I straightened and felt the blood rush downward, but I still felt light-headed. I let out a groan, and I felt someone's arms around me.

"Hey," that someone whispered, and I opened my eyes a little further as I touched my head to see Damon bending before me, his cold hands on my face. I groaned again, the pain in my head throbbing. I also felt…_sore. _Maybe someone _had _thrown me into the goddamn tree!

"Damon?" I whispered back, looking around the forest and trying to get aware of my surroundings.

"Shh," he said quickly. "We have to get you back to the boarding house. You might have a concussion or something."

"Silas," I breathed out, ignoring him. "Silas took me. He needed me as leverage because Stefan took Amara…" I looked around me. "Where's Amara?"

Damon swallowed. "Amara's dead," he explained to me. I looked at him, confused.

"But…Bonnie…"

Damon shook his head. "I have no idea, Madeline. Come on, let's get back to the house," he tried. I nodded, and I felt the lightness and pain inside of my head when I did. Damon helped me up from the floor, and I stumbled into him, my legs weak. Damon caught me, though, and he held me upright. "Whoa…" he said, looking at me. I swallowed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm just…" I trailed off and debated my next words. "What was that?" I asked him. Damon looked at me, puzzled.

"What was what?"

"That back there," I replied. "In the boarding house. You kissing me." Damon was quiet. "Was it a mistake?" I asked him. Damon looked up at me and I waited, only to be answered a few seconds later as he leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine softly. I thought I was going to buckle, especially considering the fact that I was weak and he was kissing me, but I didn't. His hand traced my jaw before he pulled away.

"No," he said, his voice low. "It wasn't." He jerked his head back to the house. "Now come on. We better make sure you didn't break a bone or something," he told me, and I nodded to him. I felt those conflicted emotions again, but I decided not to worry about them. He held me as we tried to walk back to the house, but we saw Stefan and Elena, Stefan with a shovel by his side. They stared at each other.

"I wanted it to be you," Stefan said, looking at Elena. Damon and I walked out, and Stefan flickered his eyes at us, but he looked at Damon. "I wanted it to be both of you."

I looked at Stefan, realizing the pain that Damon and Elena caused him. I would've definitely went to look for him, I imagined, but I wasn't here to. But me being sent to another realm was hardly terrible compared to what Stefan went through. Damon held me in his arms and Elena breathed out my name, concerned.

"What happened?" she asked Damon. "Is she okay?" She acted like I wasn't here.

"Someone threw me into a goddamn tree," I said, rubbing my head.

Stefan spoke, "Sorry about that." I looked up at him, alarmed. "I didn't want you to get hurt, it seemed like the best way to get you out of it. I had to take out Silas's leverage," Stefan told me. I wanted to say that I didn't understand, but I did.

"Is it over?" I asked him. Stefan was silent.

"I don't know," he admitted. "Your memories?" he prompted.

I shook my head. "Silas said I wasn't going to get them back," I said, lowering my eyes. I could feel Damon glance at me. "I'm stuck like this."

"What are you talking about?" Elena asked. Wow, she really _was _clueless. "What memories?"

"We'll explain it later, Elena," Damon said to her, turning away. And, just like that, he held me and took me back to the house, leaving Elena and Stefan behind.

* * *

**Do you guys think I ****_really _****need to say something? Was that what everyone was hoping for? So, obviously Damon and Elena aren't broken up yet - they will break up in 5x10, but I decided to bring Damon and Madeline ****_slightly _****together before that happens. **

**In ****_Dead Man On Campus, _****we will learn ****_why, _****exactly, Damon broke up with Madeline to be with Elena. Sad story, sad tale, but it'll all be good soon. I'm so done with this stupid hiatus I want my Damon Salvatore back :(**

**As always, I appreciate every single one of the reviews that come through in this story. You never cease to amaze me. Keep it up!**

_**Love, **_

_**BellaSalvatore1918**_

_**X**_


	8. Dead Man on Campus

**Hey, everyone! Sorry I wasn't able to update sooner, I've been really busy with a lot of things. But I appreciate ****_every _****single one of your reviews...I seriously didn't expect all of this! **

**I'm just letting you know in advance, I have finals Monday and Tuesday, so I probably won't update over the next three days. But, I am also going to Georgia on Tuesday night to go see the set of The Originals and TVD again, so I ****_might _****not be able to update then, either. You never know, though, I might have time at night!**

**By the way, sorry for the late-night update, those don't usually happen that often. I just wanted to get this chapter out today because I know I'm only going to have time to write one chapter of something tomorrow, which will most likely be KOR since I haven't updated that one in a while. **

**Anyways, enjoy the chapter...up next is ****_The Cell, _****which was one of my favorite episodes in season 5, even though stupid Delena was basically all it was. I didn't even pay attention to Elena, really, she was just annoying in that episode. **

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1 please :)**

* * *

**Dead Man on Campus**

I walked into our dorm room to find Caroline and Elena making kissing noises and doing things that…I _really _hoped that they didn't do on a regular basis. I heard Bonnie shout "Oh my God!" before I intervened.

"Um…" I began, and Elena and Caroline stopped what they were doing when I walked through the door. Caroline let a laugh escape her lips. "Okay…I'm just going to pretend like you," I pointed at Caroline, "weren't kissing a stack of drink cups and you," I pointed at Elena, "weren't making it look like you were making out with yourself."

Bonnie shook her head. "Long story. I'm going to register for classes," she rushed out. I nodded as she brushed past me, and Elena and Caroline burst into laughter.

"I'm guessing she's…_not _really registering for classes?" I began. Elena laughed.

"Come on, Mads. It's _so _obvious. Bonnie's going to see her _boyfriend_," Elena sung with a smile. I thought about it for a second. "Our brother, Mads," Elena filled in.

"Oh, right!" I said, snapping my fingers as I moved further into the dorm. "Forgot about that one. Wait, how is he even allowed on campus? He's in high school." I scoffed. Caroline shrugged and I moved on. "Well, anyways, an entire frat house is coming to the party," I told them.

"How the _hell _did you pull that off?" Caroline asked, surprised. I looked over at her and narrowed my eyes.

"Don't underestimate the powers of my persuasion." Caroline stared at me, waiting for an explanation. "Give it up, Caroline, I'm not giving away any of my trade secrets," I warned her. Truth was, all I had to do was mention the fact that there was alcohol and me at the party, and they were all for it. College boys weren't all that picky, I realized.

For the last couple days, this had been our distraction: college. Elena dragged me back with her, a little on edge about this whole memory loss situation. I already told everyone that I wasn't going to be able to get my memories back; Silas had made that clear. I don't think anyone was really _okay _with it, but I know that they were all trying to be considerate of me. It was Elena who was annoying the _hell _out of me with her constant nagging. It was like someone poking me in the back going "Did you remember yet?" seventy times in a row. And it's not like she did it because she wanted me to have my memories back, I _knew _she did it because she felt responsible. Guilty. Caroline, at least, dropped subtle hints. Bonnie didn't push at all, though she kept trying to tell me something, but someone else always interrupted us. Damon and I hadn't really talked since our confessions back at the boarding house, and I didn't know what to do about that.

I loved him, I really, really, did.

But that was the problem. I loved him, but I was being lenient. After all, he slept with my sister! My younger sister. And I was just supposed to let him back into my good graces? I didn't want to move on, that was clearly not going to happen as long as I was here, but how could I just sit idly by while history repeats itself? Yes, I was a little more pissed at my sister than I was at Damon. Actually, I was a _lot _more pissed at my sister than Damon. Not that I didn't blame Damon for what he did, but she did have a part in it, too, and we were _family. _Not friends, _family_. Damon and I were only boyfriend and girlfriend, it wasn't _understandable, _but it happened sometimes and there was no excuse for it. But with family? Family should know better – _she _should've know better.

And that's why I hadn't taken any of Damon's calls or texts. No matter how much I wanted to get back at my sister for sleeping with my boyfriend, fighting fire with fire wouldn't do anyone any good.

Elena laughed. "Okay, well, I'm going to go hand out some flyers," she said as she grabbed the stack of posters she'd printed out earlier in the morning. "You guys gonna set up downstairs?" she asked us, but it was more like a demand.

"Yep!" Caroline called out as Elena opened the door and left the dorm. I watched as she left and turned back to Caroline. "You…okay, Madeline?" she asked, cautious. I looked at her.

"What, me?" I questioned. Caroline nodded. I scoffed at her, "Yeah! I'm fine. I'm fine." She stared at me. "Okay, _no_. I'm not fine."

"What's the matter?" she asked as she ripped open the package of drink cups she'd been fake-kissing earlier. "Damon drama?" Caroline offered.

I looked up at her alarmed. "Uh…no," I said, partially laughing. Caroline eyed me. "No. No. Why does it have to be Damon drama? You know, I could have a boyfriend or something and be over Damon already," I pointed out, seriously.

"Do you?"

I sighed. "No," I answered. Caroline looked at me as if she proved her point. "But that doesn't mean I'm having Damon drama," I countered. I sat down on the bed. "I don't know…I just feel like what we're doing here is pointless. Stefan got his memory back, which means he knows about everything that happened with Damon and Elena, Audrey's back in Mystic Falls…what are we even _doing _here?"

"Trying to be normal," Caroline returned as she walked over to my bed and sat down. "I know you don't remember anything, and that's probably why you feel like this. But we've all been through a lot worse, and it's good to be_…normal_," she tried.

"Like Elena turning into a vampire and burning our house down," I said, looking over at her. Caroline raised her eyebrows. "I had a dream last night, and those were the memories," I explained.

Caroline let out a strangled breath through her teeth. "Yeah…Elena didn't really take being a vampire very well at the beginning," she laughed, and I laughed with her. "Everything's going to be okay, Madeline, promise," Caroline assured me as she got up from the bed and grabbed something. She turned back to me with a piece of paper, and, as it turns out, it was a list. "Now, seeing as you have this magic Madeline charm, why don't you go and invite some of the other people I put on the list?" she proposed.

I let out a groan. "Fine," I agreed and got up from my bed. "But you owe me."

"Name your price," Caroline offered. I stared up at the ceiling and hummed, thinking of my price.

I gasped. "Drink of my choice at the party!" I exclaimed. Caroline smiled.

"Okay…what is it?"

"Jell-O shots."

"Jell-O shots?" she repeated. I nodded at her firmly. "Have you even _tasted _a Jell-O shot, Mads?"

I shrugged. "No, but it's got to be good, right?" I tried. Caroline laughed and I opened the door to leave. "I mean…it's _Jell-O_." I smiled at her and she just nodded at me with an agreement and I left the dorm.

A couple minutes into my invitation list, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out, only to see Damon's name on my screen, and my finger hovered over the _decline _option. I thought about it again as the phone buzzed in my hand, and I decided to answer it.

_"You've been avoiding me…again_," Damon accused just as I pulled the phone up to my ear. I let out a sigh.

"I've been busy," I returned. "We're throwing this…revival…party…thing for Bonnie and Caroline has me in charge of inviting the frat boys," I told him as I made my way across the campus to the next destination.

_"Any luck with that?" _

"Tons, actually," I said, my voice a little bit of a snap. I inhaled. "What do you want, Damon?"

_"I thought we were past this, Mads," _Damon said, annoyed. _"I kissed you, you kissed me back, you asked me if it was a mistake, I kissed you again and said it wasn't…ringing a bell?" _

"A very loud one, thank you," I retorted.

_"Uh-huh, and after all of that, you're still avoiding me?" _

I was about to respond, but as I opened my mouth, I saw Aaron from the corner of my eye – the kid that looked oddly like Wes. Without hesitation, I walked up to him and dropped the phone in my hand, temporarily forgetting that it was Damon on the other line. "Aaron!" I called out. The kid turned around at me and realized.

"Hey…" he trailed off. "Elena's sister…" Aaron began awkwardly, and I realized that I never introduced myself.

"Oops," I said, laughing. "Sorry, I guess I forgot to tell you my name. It's Madeline," I told him, nodding. He nodded in response.

"Madeline," he agreed. "What happened to you the other day? At the party?" Aaron asked me. I inhaled.

"Oh, um…family stuff," I said vaguely, not really coming up with anything else to say. "I had to leave and go back home, but I'm back now," I said. He nodded and I swallowed. "Hey, you know…Elena and I would really love it if you came to our party tonight," I told him.

He hesitated. "Uh…yeah, sure," he agreed. "Where?"

"Our dorm," I responded quickly. Aaron sucked air through his teeth.

"Ugh. Party in a dorm? No thanks."

"You already said yes," I pointed out. "Now you can't take it back." I gave him a light smile and he just hesitated again. "Oh, come on! Free beer, _tons _of girls. Jell-O shots!" I exclaimed excitedly. "I'm responsible for that one," I whispered at him, taking credit where credit is due. "Come on, say you'll come," I pleaded.

Aaron was quiet for the longest time before he let out a strained breath and finally gave in. "Oh, okay. _Fine_. I'm in. I'll see you tonight."

"See you tonight," I agreed and he walked off. I smiled and waited for a moment before I heard something.

_"Madeline?" _

Oh, right. Damon. I pulled the phone back up to my ear. "Sorry," I apologized. "I was…uh—"

_"Flirting with another guy while I'm still on the phone?" _Damon accused. I narrowed my eyes.

"So what if I was?" I demanded. "You don't dictate what I do. Besides, I wasn't even flirting with him, I just invited him to this _stupid _party."

_"Aren't you going to invite me?" _

"No, because that would involve me _seeing _you, which I'm not to keen on at the moment," I spat. Okay, maybe I had a little bit of a problem with pushing people away. Oh, well, if it was what helped me stay away from Damon and prevent giving into him, that's what I needed to do.

_"Too bad, Elena already invited me." _

_Shit_, I thought to myself as I stayed silent. I was silent for a moment longer before I spoke. "Well, then, _fine_. I'll see you tonight."

_"Fine." _

"Fine!" I exclaimed and hung up the phone. Ugh, why was _this _the biggest problem that I was having right now? It was just…_wrong. _And weird. I didn't enjoy this back and forth game with Damon, it was frustrating. All he had to do was break up with Elena if he really wanted me back; that I could live with and possibly come to accept. But, the thing was, he was playing her _and_ me at the same time. I wasn't going to take that with a grain of salt.

I let out a frustrated sigh and pushed the thought out of my head before I continued to another frat house to invite more people.

* * *

After I finished getting people on the guest list, Elena called me and told me to meet her in one of the dorm rooms. Confused, I went along with it, and I showed up at the dorm room that she had told me to go to. Elena arrived just a moment later, wheeling in a cooler – and I recognized it.

"Uh…why are you carrying a cooler of your stash?" I asked her as she came to a halt in front of the door.

"Remember Jesse?" Elena asked me. I nodded. "Yeah, he's a vampire now, so he needs some blood," she filled in. I widened my eyes.

_"What_?" I questioned, completely bewildered. "How? When? Where? What—"

Elena shook her head. "I don't know," she answered and placed her hand on the doorknob, twisting it. "But come on, he needs us." She pushed open the door and we walked inside to see Caroline and Jesse sitting, talking together.

"Well, you're new and you're hungry," Caroline reasoned with him. I crossed my arms as we brought the cooler over to them, Elena doing the work as I just walked over.

"Not for long," she said with a hint of a smile. "I brought our stash," she clarified and opened the cooler. I peered inside beside the cooler to see the blood bags. She pulled one out and handed it over to Jesse, and we all looked at him. He grabbed it. "How are you doing?"

"_Our _stash?" he asked, looking at the three of us and ignoring the question. "You two are vampires also?"

"No, no," I said, partially laughing at the newborn. "No," I told him. "I am _not _a vampire. I'm a Pure Blood," I said it almost proudly.

"Uh…what's a Pure Blood?"

I shrugged. "I have no idea," I admitted. And, it's a little true. I really didn't know what being a Pure Blood means. Silas said that I could cure him, but I didn't really understand that, myself. If I could cure vampires, wouldn't Stefan be a human considering Tessa's spell that made him drink my blood?

Jesse nodded and looked at Elena. "But…_you're _a vampire?" he asked, unsure.

Elena looked taken aback. "You say it like it's a bad thing," she retorted. I blinked at her. What? "First rule about being a vampire is realizing how _awesome _you are," Elena told him.

I turned to her and inhaled sharply. "Didn't you, like…_cry _for a week straight when you became a vampire?" I asked her, shaking my head. Elena was silent. "Not to mention the fact that you burned our house down," I stated.

"You remember all of that?" Elena asked, widening her eyes. I resisted the urge to roll my own. I don't even begin to understand how this girl could survive life as a vampire. I just exhaled and nodded at her, deciding to move on. I turned to Jesse, who looked down at the blood bag and began to drink from it rapidly, and it kind of made me want to throw up. Elena turned her head, as did I, thinking I was going to be sick. I spotted Aaron on the couch, and just stared. _What the…_ "How's he doing?" Elena questioned Caroline.

"He's all right," Caroline responded. "He's alive," she said, looking on the bright side of things. Meanwhile, Jesse still went rapidly at the blood bag. I swallowed the bile that threatened to come out. Elena pulled down the sleeve of her shirt and opened her mouth to bite down on her wrist. "Elena, wait!" Elena stopped in her tracks and turned back at Caroline. Caroline's gaze flickered to Jesse. "I was thinking that Jesse could do it," she admitted. Elena was silent and Caroline continued, looking at the feeding vampire, who stopped when she began to speak. "You're a vampire now," she explained. "You may have hurt him, but you can also heal him with your blood."

I watched as Caroline bent down and bit at Jesse's wrist, and when she pulled back up to the surface, she brought him up with her and they walked over to Aaron on the couch. Elena, Jesse, Caroline, and I all surrounded the couch and Caroline guided the newborn vampire's wrist to the human's mouth, and I watched as Aaron began to drink. Soon, Aaron brought his hands up and secured Jesse's wrist to his mouth and drank harder, still with his eyes closed. The wound healed before us, surprising Jesse.

"Holy crap, that's insane," Jesse breathed out. Caroline smiled and looked over at Elena.

"You wanna teach him about compulsion?" she asked. Elena smiled in response, and they turned to me. I groaned.

"I'm going to be the test subject, aren't I?" I asked them, but I already knew the answer. I let out a sigh. "_Fine_," I said, avoiding an argument. Caroline's grin was unmistakable and I raised my hands to unclasp the necklace from my neck. Jesse pulled his wrist away from Aaron's mouth, and he was still awake. I waited as Caroline began to teach the lesson at Jesse by compelling Aaron, which she did and he fell back asleep with ease. Jesse was in awe at what Caroline did, and then they turned to me, patiently waiting to be mind-manipulated.

"Try it," Caroline urged the new vampire, lightly tapping him to come over to me.

"What do I tell her to do?" Jesse asked as they both walked over to me and the three of them hovered. I shifted uncomfortably. I felt like a lab rat.

"Ask her to walk to the door and walk back," Elena offered. I scoffed. And here _I _thought they were going to make me do something stupid. Of course not.

Jesse sat down in front of me and I waited for him to tell me what do to. "I want you to walk to the door and back," he instructed me. Loosing all willpower in my body, I rose from my seat, walked to the door, and walked back without sitting down. I blinked and the willpower was returned to my body, and I let out a sigh and sat down by my own means. Jesse basked in the sight of me doing what he asked.

"That was stupid," I muttered under my breath.

"That's…_amazing_," he whispered, smiling in the slightest. I reached over on the table and picked up my locket and clasped it onto my neck. I could see Elena staring at it with envy. _Good_. Make it be her reminder that she did steal _my _boyfriend from me.

* * *

Unlike Caroline and Elena, I decided to not really dress up all that much for this party of ours. I slapped on a pair of jeans and a nice shirt and the party rolled on by. It wasn't too bad, though, because of my Jell-O shot request. I had three by the time Bonnie grabbed my arm and spoke to me.

"Hey, Bonnie," I said with a smile, though I was almost certain that I was a _little _buzzed. Not a lot, though, that much I knew.

"Hey." Bonnie returned my smile. "Can we talk?" she asked me. I nodded and turned to her.

"Yeah, what's up?" I asked. I assumed it was what she was trying to tell me for the past couple days, but never got the chance to. I admit, I was a little curious about what it was. Bonnie took in a large breath and she began.

"I know you think that Damon loves Elena more than he loves you." _Oh, shit. _I was going to need another Jell-O shot if I was actually going to _talk _to someone, other than Stefan, about Damon Salvatore. "But it's not true."

I let out a sigh and crossed my arms. "Bonnie, I don't even remember what _happened _and I know that it's true," I said sadly. "He chose her over me, there's nothing else I can do." And it was the truth. Of course, I hadn't told anyone about my spur-of-the-moment _two _kisses with Damon, but what I said was true. He wouldn't choose me over Elena; that was evident now. I saw him earlier, talking to her, and he left after a moment without noticing me.

"No, Madeline, you don't understand," she pushed. I sighed again. I _really _didn't want to talk about this. "Damon was going to choose you."

I was silent for the longest time after hearing those words, and I could tell that Bonnie was trying to decipher my expressions. I swallowed. "W-What?" I asked, confused.

Bonnie nodded. "I couldn't _tell _you, obviously, because I've been dead the entire summer," she began. I waited for this explanation. It couldn't be true. "He was going to tell you after graduation, after he talked with Elena. But…I talked to him first."

I stared at her. "Bonnie, what do you mean you _talked _to him first?" I asked, confused to the maximum. This was _stupid_. Elena chose Damon and Damon chose Elena; that's what had happened at graduation, even though I didn't remember it. That was what happened.

"I had a vision," she began to explain. "Of you. Of Damon. You were together, you were happy…and then…you weren't," Bonnie said simply, nodding at me and waiting for me to react. "Because you were dead, Madeline. Because of Damon. Because of the fact that you were together, you _died_."

I blinked. "I…I…" I trailed off. What the _hell_? "What?" I breathed out.

"Damon didn't choose Elena because he loved her more, Madeline, he was _going _to choose you," Bonnie pushed. "And I thought I was doing the right thing when I told him about my vision, but you ended up in an alternate dimension for the entire summer, and when you came back, there was just too much heartbreak too handle," she tried. I looked in the crowd, trying to grasp the situation. "I thought you deserved to know."

"Why now?" I asked, shaking my head. "Why…why at _all_, I mean, if I'm supposed to die if I'm together with him, why would you tell me this?" I demanded.

"Because I saw you dying at Silas's hand, Mads," Bonnie explained. I was quiet. "And…Silas is dead now, so I guess that means you're safe. But you wouldn't have been if you had been with Damon for the summer," she defended.

I rubbed my forehead. Oh, _God. _What did this mean? Damon chose Elena because he was protecting me? On one hand, I felt sad, because I knew that it was probably a lot for him to handle. But on the other, I was enraged. Why would he choose some _stupid _vision over me? Why would he choose _her _over me, even if it was to protect me? I could protect myself.

"Excuse me," I mumbled, and I barely heard her call out my name as I went through the crowd. I needed to find Damon. I needed to talk to him; to ask him why he didn't tell me as soon as Silas died.

But Elena stopped me. "Hey, Mads," she said with a smile on her face. I shook my head at her.

"Not now, Elena," I said as I tried to move past her. Elena sidestepped me and raised her eyebrows.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Where are you going?"

I bit my lip. I didn't know what to say to her? Did I lie? Did I tell the truth? I decided to go with the truth, "I'm going to see Damon," I said simply.

Elena took a second, but let out a light laugh. "What?" she asked, puzzled. "…Why?"

"Because I need to talk to him," I countered. What was with all the questions? "Do you even know where he went? I saw him leave earlier."

"He's with Wes," Elena responded. "But he's fine, Madeline, so why don't you just stay here and—"

"I'm not going to see him because I'm concerned about his safety, Elena, I need to see him because I need to talk to him." I didn't mean it to come out as a snap, but it did. Oops.

Elena tensed. "What's going on with you and Damon?" she asked, her tone accusative. I let out a sigh. "What is it, Madeline?"

"Nothing!" I exclaimed, lying as usual. "Why can't I just talk to him? I didn't realize that you were in charge of everyone he talks to!"

"Well, when it's…_you_, I am," Elena said, implying the very thing that I was afraid of. She stared at me, as if she was ready to fight me if she had to.

"Elena," I began slowly. "Unlike you did when Damon and I were together, I am _trying _to push my feelings aside and let him make a choice on his own." She was silent. "So you need to _stop _being a hypocrite and move just a _little _to your left so I can go talk to Damon," I ordered.

"Look, Madeline—"

"Stop!" I exclaimed, now frustrated. Elena blinked at me, surprised. "Just stop, Elena, okay? You made your decision when you slept with him, so don't pretend to even _care _about my feelings anymore, I'm tired of it!"

"I care!" Elena countered, angry now as well. "I felt _terrible _about sleeping with him!"

"And that's supposed to make it _okay_?"

"No!" Elena exclaimed. "No, of course not, Mads, but it wasn't just _my _fault, okay? He chose me, remember? So it's not _all _my fault."

I shook my head at her. "No," I said, still shaking my head. She waited for me to continue. "No, he didn't." I tried to brush past her again, and I almost got away with it if it weren't for Caroline, who stopped me and trapped me in between her and Elena. "Oh, _seriously_!" I shouted. "Come _on, _I just want to talk to him, you don't have to start ganging up on me!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Caroline asked me, and I could definitely sense that there was something wrong.

"Caroline, what is it?" Elena asked, probably sensing the same thing that I did.

"It's Jesse," she said, looking up at Elena. "He's gone and he…" Caroline pulled her hand up to his mouth. "He _bit _me."

I clamped my hand down on her shoulder. "People do that when they're passionate about someone. Way to go, Caroline," I praised her. Elena opened her mouth.

"Jesse feeds off of vampire blood," Elena rushed out. Caroline looked at her, confused, and I couldn't deny that I felt the same way. "Damon called me and told me a couple minutes ago. He said that once he starts, he can't stop."

"But he fed on me."

Elena nodded. "Which means that he can't stop," she breathed out, and then set off in another direction. Caroline followed her, and I saw that they were both out of sight, leaving me behind.

So, I once I got outside, I started running. And my guess was that Elena went to see Damon – of course. So, I ran as fast as I could to the science building, thanking my own conscious for not wearing a dress. When I reached the science building, I heard a scream, and I could tell that it was Caroline's. I rounded a corner and looked to the side of the hallway to see Caroline on the floor and Elena and Damon standing up, Damon leaning on Elena for support. Caroline was breathing Jesse's name over and over again, pleading to him as she hovered over his body.

I didn't need to see what had happened to know that Jesse was dying. I slowly walked into the hallway and stopped over Caroline, and I watched as Jesse's face began to turn grey and veiny. Caroline looked up at Elena.

"What did you do?" she asked, her voice clearly accusative. But from the look of it – I didn't blame her for accusing my sister. All the evidence pointed to her.

"He was gonna kill Damon," Elena reasoned. I blinked at her. Was that _really _her reasoning for killing someone that Caroline had been trying to save?

"But…we promised that we would _help _him," Caroline said, her voice almost whining.

"She didn't have a choice, all right?" Damon breathed as he hunched over. Elena turned her head in shame. "Once he has a taste of vampire blood, there's nothing stopping him." Now, that reasoning, I understood. It didn't make anything _right, _but it was better than doing something because another person's life was in danger. Sure, it was Damon, but one life isn't any greater than another. "Go ask Doctor Frankenstein," Damon quipped. "I'll do deal with him." Holding his hand, Damon stumbled into the laboratory, and Caroline just looked down at Jesse. Elena looked up at me, and I moved past Caroline and went into Wes's lab as well, leaving Caroline and Elena alone. Surprisingly, Elena didn't come after me.

"You okay?" I asked Damon as I walked into the lab to find him hunting through a bunch of test tubes on a metal desk. Damon looked up at me and nodded once before lowering his head to hunt through the tubes again.

"What are you doing here?" Damon asked, his voice slightly low. "You should go back to the dorm with Elena, I'll handle this."

I shook my head. "I think I've had enough of my sister for one day," I told him and looked down at the test tubes. I grabbed one of them to read _Malaria _on one of the labels. "Why are you looking through a bunch of infectious diseases?" I asked him, confused. Damon grabbed the test tube out of my hand and put it back in the case that he had been hunting through.

"Putting them away so that I can just sit here and wait before I compel away my session with your boyfriend over there." I looked over where Damon was gesturing. "What's wrong, Madeline?" Damon asked, looking back up at me. I looked over at him and cleared my throat.

"Uh…we need to talk," I said carefully, and Damon stared into my eyes for a moment before I saw him nod.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Sure. We can finish up here and then we can talk," Damon suggested as he put the test tubes back in the fridge. I looked back at Wes, who was strapped in a chair, his skin covered in blotches and his face covered in sweat. I didn't really want to know what had been going on in here before we came. "What the hell is that?" Damon mumbled as he pulled out something from the fridge. I walked over to him to see a blood bag in his hand with a label on it.

"12144?" I said, repeating the numbers on the label. "What does that mean?" Damon and I both glanced up at Wes, who just shrugged.

"What do you care?" Wes prompted.

Damon swallowed. "Because I was 21051," he responded.

"…21051?" I asked Damon, but Damon didn't remove his eyes from Wes.

"Hold on," Wes said, both of them seemingly ignoring me. Wow, maybe I _was _better off going with Elena and Caroline. "You were an Augustine vampire?" I looked at Damon for confirmation, but I was getting nothing. How the _hell _was he an Augustine vampire?

"Augustine," Damon said, as if in a trance. "I haven't heard that name in _decades_." Now he was just getting angry. "Vampire lab rats, coded subject names…thought you guys shut down sixty _years _ago."

Wes shrugged. "You thought wrong."

Angrily, Damon threw the blood bag back into the fridge, slammed it shut, and walked over to Wes. I didn't say anything, because I was processing it, myself. "You know, I said that I wasn't gonna kill ya." Damon grabbed a bottle on the table next to Wes and a needle. "I lied." He plunged the needle into the bottle and began to pull the liquid out of it, but that's when I saw Wes get out of the chair, and make a run for it. Damon flashed to him, knocking me out of the way safely so I ended up behind the conflict, but I saw Wes push something behind Damon. All of a sudden, white smoke began to rain from the ceiling, and Damon began to cough. I, however, did not. Damon fell to the floor, helpless, and I tried to rush over to him.

"Damon!" I yelled, but Wes gripped my arms and fought me so that I couldn't go over to him. "What the _hell _did you just do?" I snapped.

"Atomized vervain," he explained while keeping me in his hold. Why was I so _weak_? "When working with vampires, you can never be too careful." Wes turned back at Damon, who was coughing and pounding against the floor, unable to breathe. It was sickening for me to watch. "I'm sure Augustine will be _thrilled _to have you back." Wes turned to me. "As for you," he started, but I cut him off.

"Let us go, Wes," I said, trying to fight against him more. "Just let us go, we won't compel you again."

"I'm sorry," he said after a moment, and he took my arm and pulled it down so that I was falling, and I fell right into the edge of the table, and my vision went dark for the third time since I came back into this world.

* * *

**Everyone just loves making Madeline unconscious, have you noticed that? She's certainly going to have to say something about that in the next chapter :) **

**Anyways, remember that updates will be slow over the next week...but I ****_will try _****my best for you! Thank you again and please don't forget to leave a review...not that I have any doubts. By the way, there's another poll on my profile...I think you might like this one, because Damon and Madeline are winning :P **

**I'll update ASAP!**

_**Love, **_

**_BellaSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**


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